Summer Of My Russian Sailor
by autumnrose2010
Summary: Formerly 'Seashells.' She was eighteen, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a kind heart. He was a tall, handsome sailor with a gentle demeanor. They were in love, but their countries were enemies, and he had to go back home and leave her behind. When he was finally able to come back, she was still there.
1. Of Heroes And Pushing Buttons

_A/N: This story is based on a movie from 1966 called 'The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming', so if you've seen that movie, you'll understand it better. _

"I knew I find you on beach," he told her. They were sitting in the lobster bar on Alison's island home. Alexei still looked much the same as he had when Alison had first met him. She'd recognized him right away.

"It's my favorite place in the world," she told him. "I spend as much time as I can there."

"I remember first time we were there, with little girl," he said.

"She's taller than me now." Alison laughed.

"And little boy also."

She smiled. "He never forgot you, you know. This entire town has always regarded you as a hero for having saved him."

"Everybody help me," Alexei said modestly.

"That was amazing," Alison said. "You were all ready to blow us up, and we had our guns ready to fire on you, and then we saw him hanging from the corner of the roof by his belt and that changed everything."

"When life of child is in danger, nothing else matters," Alexei agreed. "I hope he has good life now."

"He has," Alison assured him. "Like I told you before, it's a waste of time to hate anyone." Alison slowly stirred her drink with its straw and watched the bubbles rise to the surface. "I nearly gave up on ever seeing you again, you know."

"And I as well," Alexei told her. "When I decide to vacation here, I knew chances of finding you weren't good, but I had to try anyway."

"I'm awfully glad you did," Alison said. "I followed all the changes your country's government was going through in the news. I often thought of you and wondered how it was affecting you."

"Mostly good," Alexei told her. "Economy is bad, but we have more freedom now, more choices. They no say hate Americans anymore."

"Well, I'm awfully glad to hear that." Alison laughed, and Alexei joined in. "And we no longer have to worry that you'll push the button and wipe us all out."

"I never push button," Alexei laughed.

"I know _you _wouldn't have." Alison smiled. "I'm so very happy to see you again, Alexei. You'll never know how many times I looked out over the waves and thought about you so far away and wondered how you were."

"I thought about you many times as well," Alexei said. He reached across the table and took her hand. She looked into his eyes and thought about how very happy she was to see him again. He had changed, of course, but she had as well. How much she would soon find out.


	2. Lonely Too Long

"I try very hard to find a way to come back," Alexei said. "For a long time I try, but no can get exit visa. I meet Nadya, fall in love - what can I say?" He gestured helplessly. Alison felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"So you're married now?"

"Oh no, no. Nadya, she die six years ago. Cancer."

"I'm so sorry, Alexei."

"What about you, Alison? You married?"

"I was, for a little while." Alison sighed deeply. "His name was Dennis. We were married for barely six months when he was sent to Vietnam. I remember so clearly the day I received word that he had been killed. I was six months pregnant with Denny at the time. I was completely overwhelmed and exhausted, what with trying to deal with my grief plus care for a newborn."

"I am so sorry, Alison. My country support that war, say Communism good, whole world should be Communist, but I was against it. I say leave them alone, let them fight their own war."

"I was against it too," Alison told him. It had been one of the few bones of contention between herself and Dennis. He had wanted to be a hero, to fight for the American cause, for..._freedom. _For everything _they _were trying to take away.

She had never told Dennis about her brief encounter with Alexei. She had known better than to do that. He had almost managed to stay alive until Nixon had called all the troops home..._almost. _She couldn't bear to think about it.

"So you have son now?" Alexei's voice brought her back to the present.

"Denny. He's eighteen. He starts college in the fall."

"I likewise have daughter, Darya. She is also eighteen, a good girl, very bright. Spending summer with grandparents. My first summer alone in twenty years, so I thought, why not come back here? Nice place to visit, and just maybe..."

"Maybe?"

"Maybe Alison still here."

"Well." She didn't quite know what to say. "That's interesting, that we both have kids the same age."

Alexei grinned awkwardly.

"Are you still in the navy?" asked Alison.

"Oh no, no. Retired long time ago. I do different job now. You work, Alison?"

"I'm a librarian." It had been her life for fourteen long years - go to work, work all day, come home, spend the evening with Denny, then go to bed alone. All alone.

"You were lonely for long time, weren't you, Alison?" Alexei's voice was surprisingly tender as his hand cradled her chin.

She nodded, tearing up just a bit.

"Well, you don't have to be anymore. I came back just like I said I would."

She smiled, and he smiled back. For just a moment time seemed to stand still.


	3. Spirit In The Sky

"I've been going to church here since before I can remember," said Alison. They had left the lobster bar and were strolling along the beach again. Upon coming to the church, Alison took Alexei's hand and went to sit with him on the steps.

"I've never been," Alexei said.

"Never?" She gaped at him in surprise.

"Never. All my life I was told that church, religion, it all nonsense. We send man into space. He came back, say if God were up there, I would have seen Him."

"I remember when that happened," Alison said softly. "It was in our news. But in Sunday school I was always told that God is a spirit and that's why you can't see Him."

"In my country, before Revolution, religion come in two forms, Russian Orthodox and Jewish," Alexei said. "The Russian Orthodox persecute the Jews, drive them from their land, kill them because they won't convert. Why so important to convert?"

"I don't know." Alison sighed. "It's been that way everywhere for a long, long time. People of one religion persecute those of another because they think they're right and the others are wrong."

"So religion must be bad thing, since it makes people fight."

"It's bad that people fight over religion," Alison agreed. "But there are good things about it too."

"Like what?"

"Like for example, when I found out what happened to Dennis in Vietnam, all the members in the church rallied around me and gave me their support."

"But they were your neighbors anyway." Alexei frowned. "Church not necessary for them to give you their support."

"That's true, but...church is just another way for people to connect with one another, I suppose. How did you cope when your wife died?"

Alexei sighed. "It was hard, very hard. Especially for Darya."

"I can imagine." Alison's eyes had a faraway look. "Poor Denny never even knew his father."

"War is bad," Alexei said softly.

"Yes it is." She looked at him. His eyes didn't meet hers. In her mind she could still see them. The anti-war protesters with their signs and slogans. "Hell no, we won't go." Dennis had called them anti-American. _Communists. _He had almost spit the word out.

It had been a real challenge, raising Denny not to hate, after what had happened to his father.

"My grandmother was Russian Orthodox." Alexei's voice brought Alison out of her reverie. "My grandfather, he was Bolshevik. My father was World War Two hero. Kill Germans. We were on same side as you in that one." He laughed.

"Yes, I know." Alison laughed too. "My father was in World War Two as well."

"We were on same side in war, and then when war over, we begin hate each other. Why?" Alexei asked poignantly.

"I honestly don't know." Alison shook her head, feeling profoundly sad for some reason.

"Don't be sad, Alison," Alexei said quickly. "Everything is all right now."

"I know."

"Can I give you a hug, Alison?"

"That would be nice."

He did, and she felt her sadness gently lift away to be replaced by a feeling of peace and calm.


	4. Do You Still Remember

They sat like that on the steps of the church for a long time, Alexei's arm around Alison and her head resting on his shoulder. The sun began to set and the air grew cooler.

"Sunset is beautiful," Alexei murmured. His arm moved gently up and down Alison's. She didn't want to move but knew that she couldn't stay there all night.

"I suppose I should be heading home," she finally said.

"I walk you home," said Alexei, taking her hand.

Denny opened the door to let his mother in and glanced at Alexei in surprise. He was a few inches taller than Alison, and his hair was a darker shade of blonde than hers, but he had the same blue eyes.

"This is Alexei. He's an old friend of mine," Alison told her son. The boy grinned shyly.

"Is wonderful to meet you," Alexei said. "I knew your mother long ago, before you were born."

"Alexei was on a submarine that ran aground on our beach," Alison told Denny. "We were afraid that he and the others had come to attack us, but they were only looking for help."

"Why were you afraid?" asked Denny.

"That was during the Cold War, when everyone was afraid of the Russians," Alison explained.

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Denny grinned. "I remember learning about it in school."

"I go back to motel now," Alexei said. "See you tomorrow."

"He seemed nice enough," Denny remarked after Alexei had left. Alison nodded. Denny looked at her closely. "He was more than a friend, wasn't he?" he ventured.

Alison nodded again. Denny noticed how sad she looked.

"How long were you two together?"

"All of one day. Well, not quite." Alison chuckled.

"So you didn't really have time to get to know each other very well."

"No, but I really liked him and wished that he could stay. I waited a long time for him to come back."

"And then you met Dad."

"Yes. I _did _really love your father, Denny. But I never forgot Alexei."

"Is Alexei the reason you never married again after Dad died?"

"Probably."

"That's an awfully long time to wait for someone you knew for less than a day."

"I know. Crazy, isn't it?" To Alison, the length of time she had known Alexei had never been important. All that had ever mattered was how she had felt when he had held her hand, when he had kissed her. From that moment on she had known that he was the man she wanted to be with.

Time had passed and Alexei had become a sweet but distant memory. Every so often a story in the news would have her thinking about him all day again. Satellites in space. Invasion of Afghanistan. Olympic hopefuls. Arms races. Words like _glasnost _and _perestroika. _Movies like 'Moscow On The Hudson' and 'Red Dawn'. The collapse of the Berlin Wall. _Oh Alexei, where are you? Are you safe? Are you happy? Do you still remember the beach, little Annie Whittaker, the 'rakuska', the seashell?_


	5. Lost Suitcases And Dolls

That night Alison dreamed about strolling along the beach with Alexei, holding hands with him, kissing him. She thought about Nadya and was suddenly dying to know all about the woman. How had she met Alexei? Had she been prettier than Alison? Was it mean and petty to feel jealous of a dead woman? Alison had to swallow a lump in her throat. It hurt to know that Alexei hadn't waited for her, but then, of course, she hadn't waited for him either. Both of them had had a child with another person. Alison couldn't bear to wonder what it would have been like if Alexei had been able to stay the first time he had come to Gloucester all those years ago. Perhaps _they _would have had a child together. That particular thought hurt too much to even contemplate. At the same time, Alison chided herself for having such thoughts. Of _course _he hadn't waited; how could any man have been expected to wait that many years?

The following day was Sunday. Alison greeted Alexei on the beach with a smile, but his first words startled her.

"Darya come here tomorrow," he told her. "Her grandparents' house catch fire. They go to stay with friends, but Darya, she didn't want to go with them, and she no want to go home alone. So she join me here."

"That's terrible about the fire," Alison said. "I hope no one was injured."

"Oh no, they are all fine. Can you come with me to airport tomorrow? Darya want to meet you."

"You told her about me?" Alison was surprised.

"Of course I did!"

* * *

The next day, Alison felt funny waiting with Alexei at the airport to meet his daughter. She knew that Darya existed, of course, but the idea of actually meeting Alexei's daughter seemed a bit surreal to her. Alexei had already met Denny, of course, she reminded herself.

Alison recognized Darya right away. Her hair was darker than Alexei's, but she had the same blue eyes and the same facial structure. Overall, she bore a remarkable resemblance to her father. Alison felt a sudden pang.

Alison saw Darya look around anxiously for a few seconds, saw her face light up when she saw Alexei. "Papa!" Within seconds she was in Alexei's arms.

Darya turned to Alison with a smile. "I am very sorry. My English, it is not so good."

"That's all right. It's better than my Russian," Alison told her. Alexei looked startled for a moment, then laughed and patted Alison's arm.

They went to retrieve Darya's luggage and then went back to Alexei's motel room. Alison went to work at the library for a few hours, then went by the motel on the way home just to see how Darya was settling in. As she entered, she heard the girl shouting animatedly over the telephone in Russian.

Alexei chuckled. "The airline, they lose one of her suitcases," he explained.

"Does she need anything?" asked Alison.

"Oh, no, it's all right. I take care of everything. Thank you for asking though."

"If it's a bad time, I could come back later..."

"Oh, no." Alexei laughed and patted her knee. "You stay."

A few minutes later Darya joined them in the living room. She smiled when she saw Alison.

"Alison! I have something for you," she said.

"For _me?" _Alison was surprised.

Darya disappeared into the bedroom and quickly returned with a wooden doll shaped like a plump woman.

"I thought my father, he probably didn't bring you a doll, so I get you one," she told Alison. "I will show you."

Darya showed Alison that the doll was actually a set of identical dolls, each one fitting snugly into the next larger sized doll.

"Why, they're lovely!" Alison hugged Darya warmly. "Thank you!"

"It is nothing," Darya said modestly. "In my country, these dolls, they are everywhere."

"It was so kind of you to think of me." Alison was touched almost to the point of tears. She felt ashamed of the conflicting thoughts she had had about Darya before. "I...I should have thought to get you something as well," she stammered.

"Oh, no! That is all right." Darya laughed. "You make my father happy. That means a lot to me."


	6. Nightmare

Alison went to sleep that night thinking of something Alexei had told her. _My grandfather was a Bolshevik. _What's a Bolshevik? Alison wondered as she drifted to sleep.

_Alison watched the group of men park the truck and leave the motor running as they disappeared within the house. She thought that since they had left the motor running that they must be planning to return right away but soon discovered that she was wrong. Within minutes she heard the unmistable sound of gunshots from somewhere deep within the house, and shortly afterwards, the bodies of the victims were brought outside and carelessly dumped onto the ground. Half a dozen or so adults. Several teenage girls. A young boy, bleeding very copiously. One of the girls moved slightly. Alison gasped in horror as one of the men viciously attacked her with a bayonet. She tried to scream at him to stop but found that she couldn't make a sound._

_"You'll never take bread from the mouth of another peasant, Nikolasha," said another man as he kicked one of the dead men. Alison saw that one of the women and the teenage girls were being stripped and wondered what the men were planning to do to them. She soon saw that jewels had been sewn into their clothing and that the men were taking the jewels before loading all the bodies onto the back of the truck and driving far into the forest.  
_

_In a clearing the bodies were unloaded one by one and Alison looked into the dead faces of the teenagers with profound sorrow._ They never even got to live out their lives..._  
_

_Out of the corner of her eye Alison saw that one of the men had picked up an axe. _Oh dear God, please no... _Yet she was unable to tear her eyes away from the macabre scene as the man chopped first the body of the boy, then that of one of the teenage girls, into tiny pieces and began to burn them._

_"There's no time for that, Comrade!" Alison turned to see who had shouted and saw that it was the same man who had kicked the dead Nickolasha.  
_Alexei's grandfather. _She didn't know how she knew that. She just did._

_"The Whites will be here soon! They'll have us surrounded in no time!" Alexei's grandfather continued. The men worked at a frenzied pace as they collected the remaining bodies and hurriedly shoved them down a conveniently located mine shaft, pouring a generous quantity of acid over them to disfigure them. Then Alexei's grandfather and the others disappeared, leaving lingering smoke fumes as the only evidence of their dastardly deed.  
_

* * *

Alison awoke sobbing her heart out. She knew that it must have really happened. Although she couldn't remember all the details, she was sure that she must have read about it in a book, or seen it in a movie, and that what Alexei had told her about his grandfather must have somehow affected her subconscious and caused the nightmare.

After work that day, Alison visited the jewelry department of the local department store. She found a necklace with a heart pendant and had Darya's name inscribed on the pendant. On her way home she stopped at Alexei's motel room to give the necklace to the girl.

Darya's eyes widened with surprise and delight when she saw it. "Oh, Alison, it's beautiful! Thank you so much!" She threw her arms around Alison's neck enthusiastically and kissed Alison's cheek.

"I'm glad you like it," Alison said, feeling a big shy. She saw Alexei looking at her and knew that he wanted to speak to her alone.

"That was a very kind thing you did for my daughter, and I appreciate it very much," he told her after Darya had gone to her room. "She still feels a little bit homesick and you make her feel welcome here."

"Well, she gave me the dolls, and I wanted to do something nice for her as well," Alison explained.

Alexei smiled. "You are a wonderful person, Alison. I'm so glad we're friends."

"So am I." Alison blushed, feeling a lump in her throat. She felt Alexei's fingers softly brush the side of her face and looked up at him. She closed her eyes and kissed his lips just as she had on the beach all those years ago. Time seemed to slowly turn backwards until they were once again two young people in love with their whole lives before them.

Alison forgot all about asking Alexei what had eventually happened to his grandfather as she had planned to do. Suddenly it no longer seemed to matter.


	7. A Deep Ache Inside

Saturday morning Alison and Denny arrived at Alexei's motel room, having planned to spend the day with Alexei and Darya. Alison parked the car and went to ring the doorbell. Alexei answered the door with a big smile.

"Alison, Denny, come in, come in. Darya will be ready in a few minutes," he said.

"Nice place you have here," Denny said, looking around. His eyes lit up as he saw Darya emerge from her bedroom.

"Hi, I'm Denny," he said with a big grin.

"Darya." She smiled a little shyly as she shook his hand.

"Are we all ready to go, then?" asked Alexei.

"I guess we are," said Alison. She drove to the mall, where Alexei and Denny immediately headed for the electronics department and Alison and Darya went to look at clothes. Having never had a daughter, it was a relatively new experience for Alison.

"I used to love to go clothes shopping with my mother before she got sick," said Darya.

"That must have been a terrible time for you," Alison said softly.

"Oh, it was! I was only nine or ten when she got sick, twelve when she die. All her hair fall out and the chemotherapy stop working. I don't know who took it harder, me or my father. I never saw him cry before until she die, then he cry and cry. They were always so close, love each other so much. After that happen I thought I never see him smile again. For six years it was like that, and then guess what? One day I see him, he look happy. 'I'm going back to United States,' he told me. 'No longer need exit visa so now I can go. My friend, maybe she still be there.' 'What friend?' I ask him. 'Her name is Alison,' he say. 'It was long time ago I met her but I never forget her.' "

Alison smiled. "What was your mother like, Darya?"

"Oh, she was wonderful lady. Very pretty, very kind. We were always happy family, me, Papa, and Mama. I thought it would be like that always."

Alison had to swallow a lump in her throat.

"Your son, he is very nice young man. Is like his father, no?"

"I suppose he is in some ways. Denny never knew his father, Darya. He was killed in the Vietnam War before Denny was even born."

"Vietnam. I learn about it in school," Darya said thoughtfully. "Many Americans killed, no?"

"Far too many," Alison said softly.

"Is very sad," Darya said sympathetically.

After reuniting with Alexei and Denny, they went to a fast food restaurant for lunch and then headed for the beach. For several hours everything was fine. They looked for seashells, went swimming, and lay in the sun. Then Alison and Darya walked to a nearby convenience store for drinks while Alexei and Denny were still swimming.

A group of unkempt young men were in the next aisle over from Alison and Darya in the store, listening to them talk and laughing loudly. Suddenly one of them sauntered over to Darya with a smirk on his face.

"I love your accent. What country are you from, hon?" he asked.

"Why you want to know?" Darya asked warily.

"I'll bet you're a hot Russian babe, aren't you?" His grin widened.

"If you don't leave her alone right now I'm calling the cops!" Alison said furiously.

"Whatever you say, lady." The young man shrugged nonchalantly and rejoined his friends. Darya shot Alison a grateful look and they hurriedly returned to the beach. By the time they got back, Alexei and Denny had finished swimming and were standing on the shore drying off.

Alexei saw the look on his daughter's face. "Are you all right, Dasha?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Papa," Darya said with a smile.

"I thought your name was Darya." Denny was confused.

"Dasha's my nickname," Darya explained.

"Oh." Denny grinned. "Just like Denny's _my _nickname. My real name's Dennis, after my father."

"Denis is common name in my country as well," said Darya.

"Would you like to go for a walk?" asked Denny.

"Sure." Denny took Darya's hand and they began to walk along the beach. Alison watched them go, feeling just a little bit sad.

"Alison?" She had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed Alexei smiling and holding his hand out to her.

"Oh, sorry!" she laughed as she took his hand and they fell into step behind the younger couple.

"Why so quiet?" asked Alexei.

Alison sighed. "It's just that watching our children walk along the beach takes me right back to that day so long ago when you and I walked along the same beach." The waves made a gentle slurping sound as they lapped at the shore, almost but not quite touching Alexei's and Alison's feet. The sand squished gently between their toes. Alison remembered Darya telling her of the love her parents had shared and felt a deep ache inside that she didn't know how to express.


	8. They Come To Snuff The Rooster

"Please don't be sad, dear little Alison." Alexei smiled as he gently caressed Alison's cheek. "We're here together, now. I know it took me a long time, but I did come back to you just like I said I would. We have all the time we need now, not like before."

"I know." Alison smiled. "If it's not too personal a question, why didn't you and Nadya have any more children after Darya?"

"Oh, Alison, there is no need to worry." Alexei chuckled. "You can ask me anything at all. I will not be mad. Nadya and I both wanted more children. We tried and tried for many years, but no success. First the doctors say she have endometriosis. Then she get cancer."

"Alexei...if you ever married again, would you like to have more children?"

"Me? I am old man now." He laughed. "What about you, Alison? You want more children?"

"I always wondered what it would be like to have a daughter," Alison said softly. "While you and Denny were in electronics at the mall Darya and I went clothes shopping. I couldn't believe how much fun it was. That's the first time I've done that with someone in so long that I can't even remember the last time. Denny _hates _to go clothes shopping."

"I hate it too." Alexei laughed, then looked thoughtful. "Dasha have no mother now...and you have no daughter."

* * *

"Why people stand on corners holding signs here? They have no job, no home? Why government not take care of them?"

It was Sunday evening, and Alison had driven Alexei to the supermarket for groceries. Alexei had noticed a group of vagrants standing on the corner waiting for handouts and was curious.

"Some of them just slip between the cracks, I guess. Others can't, or won't, help themselves. The government can't do everything for everyone."

"Still, America is so rich, so powerful...it just doesn't seem right that such situations should exist in America..."

"I couldn't agree with you more, Alexei," said Alison.

"Alison!" One of the vagrants, a man in a wheelchair, called to her. He was filthy, and both his legs were missing.

"Hi, Marty. How are you? Are you taking your meds like you should?"

"Fuck the meds. They don't do no good." Marty was right beside the car now. He reeked of alcohol.

"This is my friend Alexei," Alison told him.

"Alexei? What the hell kind of a name is that?" Marty scowled menacingly at Alexei, who recoiled from him. "Listen here, boy! It was Commies that killed my best friend! Yellow-skinned, slant-eyed _Commies! _Ya got that?"

Alison quickly rolled the window up and pulled away from the curb so quickly that she almost hit another car and then pulled into the parking lot of the motel.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"It is all right. If I lose both my legs, I would be pretty upset as well. What happen to him?"

"He stepped on a land mine. He was Dennis' best friend. He saw Dennis die. He saw...Dennis...die."

"Oh." Alexei felt more awkward than he had ever felt before in his life. "I can very well understand how he would be angry. But it happened many years ago, no?"

"To Marty, it's still nineteen seventy-three. It will _always _be nineteen seventy-three to him." Alison sighed deeply. "He has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He has flashbacks where he thinks that he's still over there, that the war is still going on. It's very sad."

"Petya was my nephew." Alexei wasn't looking at her, and his voice was so soft that at first she wondered if he was merely talking to himself. "I love him just as much as if he were my son. He was killed in Afghanistan in nineteen eighty-four. I remember it like it was yesterday, the day his body come home on the train. I was at the station with his wife Tanya and their little boy Sasha. Sasha was only about three years old at the time."

"I know exactly how she felt," Alison told him. "It was just the same for me when they brought Dennis' body home. How well I remember standing in the airport looking at the casket with the American flag draped over it." An image came to her mind, one of Petya's casket with that _other _flag draped over it, the red flag with the intersecting hammer and sickle, and she shuddered involuntarily. Years of indoctrination still had that effect on her, even now.

"Tanya remind me a lot of you, Alison. You would have liked her."

"Perhaps." Alison was still struggling to get the disconcerting image out of her mind.

"First I lose Petya, then only a year or so later, I lose Nadya." Alexei looked so despondent that Alison's heart ached for him.

"You'll see them again one day, Alexei."

"That's what you Americans believe. I was always told not to believe. Lenin no believe, Stalin no believe, so you no believe either."

"But you _should _believe, Alexei. Not because of what anyone else tells you, but because it helps. Believe, me, Alexei, it _does." _The image in her mind was gone, replaced with one of the church where Alexei and the others had saved the life of little Johnny Whitaker all those years ago.

"You are such a special lady, Alison. You are the first American I tell about Petya. I know that I can because you will listen and will not pass judgement."

Alison struggled to stifle a yawn.

"I am so sorry, Alison. I keep you up far too late, talking."

"Oh, that's all right! But I do need to get home now."

"You are perfectly welcome to stay here for the night," Alexei told her. "You shouldn't drive if you are too sleepy. It is not safe."

"Oh, I'll be all right." Alison yawned again.

Alexei chuckled. "You stay. Sleep in my bed. I take sofa."

"Oh, no, I wouldn't do that..."

"I no sleep in the bed. So if you don't, nobody will." Alexei grinned.

"Well, if you insist..."

Alexei laughed.

Alison found that she was unable to fall asleep in Alexei's bed because she kept thinking of him lying on the sofa. After a while she tiptoed into the living room and lay down beside him.

"If we are going to sleep together, might as well take the bed. More comfortable, yes?" Alexei mumbled.

They fell asleep together with Alexei curled around Alison and holding her tightly to himself.


	9. A Traumatic Day

Alison awoke and couldn't remember where she was at first. Then she looked into Alexei's clear blue eyes and remembered.

"Good morning, Alison." He smiled.

"Morning." She yawned and stretched.

"Is nice waking up together, yes?" His arms around her felt so cozy that she was tempted to close her eyes again but knew that she didn't dare.

"Oh, it's lovely!" She smiled briefly. "But I have to go back to the library today." He looked so disappointed that she was tempted to call in sick.

"Unless..." Her fingers lightly brushed a few strands of hair back from his forehead.

Alexei laughed softly and kissed her nose. "Go to library. I don't want you to get in trouble."

With her last ounce of determination Alison rose, quickly went home to change clothes and freshen up, and made it to work within a hair's breadth of being late.

* * *

It was the time of day when Alison was typically drowsiest, a couple of hours after lunch yet several hours before time to go home. She was struggling to stay awake while logging returned books back into the computer when a commotion outside jolted her wide awake. She and her co-workers rushed outside to find the government building across the street in flames.

"What on earth happened?" she asked.

"A small aircraft crashed right into the side of the building!" someone told her.

"Oh, no!" she groaned. "How many people were on board?"

"It appears to have been unoccupied," someone else replied. "The pilot must have realized that he was about to crash and parachuted to safety."

Alison sighed with relief, but then another frightening thought occurred to her. "Is anyone still in the building?"

"Oh, no," one of the government workers assured her. "The airplane crashed into a storage area that held mostly files and documents. Everyone was evacuated well before the fire got out of control."

"Oh, thank God!" Alison felt dizzy with relief until excited shouting caught her attention once more.

"Look, they've got him!" Alison looked in the direction in which the man was pointing and saw a group of policemen surrounding a slight, dark-skinned, bearded man who was wearing a turban.

"I tell you, I am innocent!" the man shouted in heavily accented English. "Before Allah, I swear that I am innocent! It was an accident!"

"Yeah, right," growled one of the policemen, grabbing the man roughly by the arm and dragging him toward the squad car.

"I try to miss building, land in field, but the wind is too strong, blow me off course!" the man insisted.

"Tell it to the judge!" growled another policeman. The man mumbled frantically in Arabic as he was shoved into the back seat of the squad car.

"One less rag-head to threaten society," the man standing beside Alison said sourly.

"Maybe it really _was _an accident," said Alison.

"Like hell it was! They come over here and try to force their Koran down everybody's throats, threaten them with jihad if they don't convert to Islam, and blow up innocent people thinking that Allah will reward them with seventy-two virgins in Paradise!" The man's face was livid with rage. He was screaming now.

"I hope they lock him up and throw away the key!" shouted someone else.

"Mom! Are you all right?" Suddenly Denny was there, embracing his mother. "We saw the smoke and couldn't tell if it was coming from the government building or the library," he continued. Alison noticed that Darya was a few steps behind him, Alexei following a few steps behind his daughter.

"What happened?" asked Darya.

"One of those crazy fundamentalist Muslims just crashed an airplane into the side of that building over there," someone told her.

"Alison!" Alexei had reached her and was holding her tightly, murmuring something in Russian. Alison looked up at him. "Thank _God _you're all right," he whispered. _Do you __realize what you just said, Alexei? Maybe deep down inside, you really _do _believe, after all..._

"Come on," Denny told her. "I'm taking you home."

Later, Alison, Alexei, Denny, and Darya sat in Alison's living room talking about what had just happened.

"Nobody was killed or even injured," Alison said. "Yet that man may end up with a long prison term just because of who he is and where he came from. He might have a wife and children who'll be worried to death about him. He said it was just an accident, that he tried to avoid crashing into the building. What if he's right? They probably won't even listen to him! It's not fair!" Alison was so upset that she was almost crying. She looked into Alexei's eyes and knew that they were both remembering a similar incident that had happened many years before and had involved a submarine and a different kind of foreigners from a different country.

"From the others there I felt much anger, much hate," said Darya.

"Some people just always have to have someone or something to hate," Alison said. "And when the person or thing they originally hate either goes away or stops being a threat, they just move onto something or someone else and keep right on hating!"

"Dearest Alison." Alison looked into Alexei's eyes and saw a new emotion there, a deeper and more tender one than she had ever seen before. "Let me stay here with you tonight. You are very upset and don't need to be alone."

"That's OK. I'll be all right," Alison said quickly. "Darya needs you."

"Dasha is a big girl. She will be just fine. I'm not at all sure that I can say the same about you."

"Really, Alexei, I'll be fine. Honest."

Alexei held her like she hadn't been held by a man in a very long time. He gently ran his fingers through her hair and kissed the top of her head, murmuring words she didn't understand. _"Moya dragatsyennaya."_

"Things seem to be getting awfully cozy between you two," Denny remarked after Alexei and Darya had left.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alison asked sharply.

Denny sighed. "I'm sorry, Mom. But I _do _worry about you, you know."

"I'm a grown woman, Denny. I can take care of myself just fine."

"You're a woman who's been lonely for a long time. It would be all too easy for a man to take advantage of you."

"Alexei isn't going to take advantage of me. He's a good man."

"What happened between you two last night?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but nothing at all happened between us last night."

"Did he try anything?"

"No, he didn't. I'm thinking of possibly going to the jail tomorrow to visit the pilot who crashed into the building today. I'm sure he could use a friend. Perhaps Alexei would like to go along as well."

"What? Are you _crazy?" _Denny gaped in disbelief. "You're entirely too trusting, Mom. You always have been. You think that everyone all over the world is just like you on the inside, but they're not!"

"I love you, Denny, but sometimes you sound entirely too much like your father."

"Well, maybe Dad was right about some things!"

Alison went to bed that night with Denny's words ringing in her ears. She hated arguing with her only child, especially when she suspected that there was a grain of truth in what he had said. She knew that she tended to give others the benefit of the doubt far too easily. She hadn't always thought of that as a fault but could see how it could be dangerous in some instances. She also halfway regretted her decision not to take Alexei up on his offer to stay the night with her. Had she been trying to put up a brave front, or had she been afraid of what might or might not happen between them?

_A/N: 'Moya dragatsyennaya' means 'precious one' in Russian._


	10. Roses, Dinner, And Dancing

Things were really crazy at the library the following day. Many more people came to gape at the partially demolished government building across the street than to check out or return books. Alison found herself with a lot of extra time on her hands, time she spent idly wandering up and down the aisles absentmindedly straightening books.

After work she strongly debated driving past the motel just to say hello to Alexei and Darya for no other reason than that she simply longed to see his face and hear his voice again, but in the end she decided that that would be silly and perhaps even appear clingy or needy, which was the last impression in the world she wanted to give Alexei.

That evening after dinner, the phone rang. It was Alexei.

"I miss you and want to hear your voice again," he told her.

"I missed you too," she said.

"Was everything all right today?"

"Everything was fine. Just a lot slower than usual, is all. How was your day?"

"I make many phone calls, try to get an extension on my visa. Also work permit."

_"Really?" _A thrill of excitement coursed through Alison's body. "So you may stay here longer than the summer, then?"

"I would really like to. Gloucester is nice place to visit. I expect would be nice place to live as well."

"I've lived here all my life, and never had any desire to live anywhere else," Alison told him. "What about Darya?"

"I want her to stay as well. Many more opportunities for her here. Perhaps she can get student visa."

"That would be wonderful, Alexei. I really hope that both of you can stay."

"There is another thing, Alison." Alexei's voice sounded hesitant - timid, almost.

"What is it?"

"Yesterday, when plane crash into building, I was very afraid. My first thought was, what if my friend Alison was in building?" Alexei sounded as if he were about to cry. Alison felt a lump forming in her own throat.

"But I _wasn't, _Alexei." The urge to comfort him was almost overpowering. "I _wasn't _in the building. Nobody was. It's all right. Everything's all right."

Alexei didn't say anything for a long time.

"Are you all right, Alexei?" Alison finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes, yes, I'm all right," Alexei quickly assured her. "What I want to say is...I have feeling for you that is very tender. More so than ever before. I...I...it is hard for me to say."

"It's all right, Alexei. I understand."

* * *

The following Friday night Alexei showed up on Alison's doorstep dressed to the nines and carrying a lovely bouquet of roses. Alison gasped with surprise, then burst out laughing.

"How did you get here?" she asked.

"Taxi." Alexei grinned.

"Why, I would have been happy to pick you up..."

"But then it wouldn't have been a surprise."

Alison laughed again. "You silly thing. Give me fifteen minutes to get ready."

"You are lovely just as you are."

"The heck I am!" Alison hurriedly put on her very best dress and painstakingly made up her face.

"Where are we going?" she asked when she was ready.

"You will know when we get there," Alexei said mysteriously.

Alison gasped with surprise when they reached the restaurant. She'd been to it once before, many years previously. It was well outside her budget.

Alexei laughed with amusement at the expression on her face. "Tonight, Alison, you will be treated just like the queen you are," he told her.

Alison felt just a little bit guilty as she walked into the restaurant with Alexei. She knew that whatever funds he had had to last him until the end of his vacation, and she didn't want him to go broke because of her.

The inside of the restaurant was every bit as opulent as Alison remembered. A violinist played, and couples danced gracefully.

Alison studied the menu carefully, trying to chose the least expensive item. Alexei seemed to read her mind. "Don't be afraid. Have whatever you want," he laughed.

After the waiter had taken their order, Alexei asked Alison if she'd like to dance.

"You're such a good dancer," Alison told him as they were dancing. He smelled really nice, of toothpaste and aftershave.

"You're not so bad yourself," he told her. His arms around her made her feel warm and secure.

"Any success with getting your visa extended?" she asked him later, as they were eating.

"Lots of paperwork. It is very difficult." He sighed. "Would have been easier if I had come over five or ten years ago. Would have qualified as political refugee then."

"But you couldn't get an exit visa then."

"Exactly."

"It's kind of ironic, isn't it?"

Alexei laughed.

After dinner they went dancing, then for a midnight stroll along the beach.

"Did you have good time tonight, Alison?" asked Alexei.

"I had a wonderful time tonight, Alexei," Alison assured him. "Thank you very much for the roses, for dinner, and...and for everything."

"Thank _you _for delightful company." Alexei grinned. "I suppose you could say our first date was success, right?"

"I guess it _was _our first real date, wasn't it?" Alison suddenly felt very shy.

Later, when Alexei asked if she wanted to come in and visit for a little while instead of just dropping him off at the motel and then returning home, she took him up on it.


	11. White Russians, Balalaikas, And More

Alison was on about her third White Russian and was beginning to feel pleasantly giddy. Alexei was drinking shots of straight vodka and seemed totally unaffected. He offered her a taste. She took a tiny sip and grimaced and shuddered. He burst out laughing.

"What kind of music is that?" she asked. Alexei was playing a CD.

"Balalaika music. Reminds me of my home, my family."

"What's a balalaika?"

"I show you." Alexei left the room and returned with an instrument Alison had never seen before.

"Wow." Alison took the balalaika in her hands and looked at it. It was perfectly triangular and had just three strings. "Do you know how to play it?"

"Of course. I've been playing it since I was little boy." Alexei grinned. "You want I should play for you?"

"Sure."

He played a simple tune for her.

"That was very nice," she said. "I've always loved music in a minor key."

"It is a lullaby," Alexei told her. "I used to sing it to Dasha when she was little girl."

Something in the combination of the White Russians and the balalaika music put Alison in a pensive mood.

"Is something wrong, Alison?"

Alison quickly shook her head. "It's just that...I can't help but wonder what it would be like to make love to you." She blushed madly and couldn't look him in the eye.

She felt him lift her and carry her gently to his bed. He began to kiss her lips, gradually becoming more ardent, until she felt his tongue seeking entrance to her mouth. She felt an electric thrill go through her body. Nobody had kissed her like that since Dennis.

At the same time he began to remove her clothing. Eagerly she grabbed for his belt.

"No, no," he murmured, moving away slightly. "Nice things will happen, but you have to be patient."

"Sorry."

"No reason to be sorry at all," he said brightly. He removed her shirt, then unfastened her bra and removed that as well. Then he used his fingers and his mouth to stimulate her until she was fairly dizzy with passion and longing. She began to moan softly as she ran her fingers through his hair.

He stopped only long enough to remove his own shirt, then returned to kissing her, slowly making his way downward, until he suddenly tugged both her pants and her panties off in one fluid motion. She gasped in shock and delight as he gently spread her legs and began to use his lips and tongue to stimulate her most intimate parts. She came almost immediately, gasping and thrashing and crying out.

She was so caught up in the ecstasy of the moment that she didn't even noticed that he had finished undressing himself until he was already inside her, plunging into her and stimulating her with his fingers at the same time. She came again and from the sound of his breathing thought that he was right behind her, when he suddenly pulled out and let it happen on her abdomen instead.

"I did not want to make you pregnant," he said apologetically. "I come right back."

He returned momentarily with a warm, wet washcloth, which he used to wipe her abdomen ever so gently. Alison lay motionless, enjoying the sensation of warmth. A moment later she felt him lie beside her in the bed.

"Come here, Alisonka. I want to hold you," he murmured. She snuggled up to him, and he put his arms around her and held her tightly. Alison felt very peaceful and a little bit drowsy.

"My God, you are so good," she told him. "How did you ever get to be so good?"

He chuckled. "Not going to tell you."

Alison felt the muscles of her stomach tighten and wondered whether she had just made a serious mistake.

"You're the first man I've been with like that since Dennis died." She wasn't sure why she found it necessary to share that with him.

"You are first woman I make love to since Nadya died." Relief washed over her. She wanted to stay right there beside him more than she'd ever wanted anything else before.

"I cannot leave you again, Alisonka," he said gently. "I had to leave you one time. But never again."

"That wasn't your fault." She began to cry softly. Tenderly he kissed her tears away. "No, darling, please don't cry."

"I love you, Alexei."'

"I love you too, dearest Alisonka." She heard the smile in his voice. "I wanted to tell you for the longest time but I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Afraid that you would think I am too bold."

"I wouldn't have thought that, Alexei."

"Well, it is all right now." He laughed. "We both said it, so next time will be easier, yes?"

"I love you." There was a hint of merriment in her voice.

"I love you, too." His voice matched her own. "See, that time was easier, yes?"

They both laughed. She felt as if something had finally clicked into place.

"I will stay this time," Alexei continued. "No matter what I have to do, how hard it is, or how long it takes. I will find job, find apartment, car even. I won't give my Alisonka up again, ever."

She fell asleep cuddled in his arms, a deep, contented sleep in which there were no bad dreams.


	12. The Danger Of Leaving The Door Unlocked

When Alison awakened the following morning, at first she wondered whether the previous night had been just a dream. Then she realized that she was lying in Alexei's arms and that they were both naked and knew that it had really happened, after all. She and Alexei had become lovers.

Slowly she became aware that Alexei was softly caressing her hair and looked up into his smiling face.

"I'm so glad it's Saturday," she mumbled.

"Means I can have my Alisonka with me for as long as I want," Alexei said happily.

"How about forever?" Alison murmured. They both laughed.

"I'm going to have to come up with a nickname for you, too," she said playfully.

"Back home everyone call me Alyosha," he told her.

"Alyosha? That's kind of a tongue twister. Did everyone really call you that?"

"Mostly just friends and family. People that know me well."

"You haven't told me much about your family," Alison said. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"I have one older brother, Nicolai, called 'Kolya.' Also older sister, Maria, 'Masha,' and younger sister, Ekaterina, 'Katya.' Do you?"

"No, I'm an only child. My parents were older when they had me. I always kind of thought of little Annie Whittaker as a younger sister."

"Where is she now?"

"Married with a three-year-old boy and another on the way. I'll take you around to meet her sometime. I'm sure she'd love to see you again."

Alexei shook his head incredulously. "That really was long time ago, wasn't it?" he said softly.

"Twenty-five years ago, Alexei...Alyosha, I mean."

"Lyosha is fine as well."

Alison laughed. "You Russians. Why not just plain Alex?"

"Too American, perhaps." Alexei chuckled softly as he slowly trailed his fingers up and down Alison's bare back. Alison stretched, luxuriating in his loving caresses.

"Your hair is beautiful, like golden sunshine," Alexei said. "If we had had daughter, I would have wanted her to look just like you."

_If we'd had a daughter..._In the midst of what had been sublime happiness, Alison suddenly felt profoundly sad.

It must have shown in her face because of the tenderness with which Alexei's finger brushed her cheek. "Dearest little Alisonka. We are together now, and everything is fine."

"I know." Alison sighed. "It's just that for so many years..."

"It has been a long time, yes, but now for first time in my life I am free, can come and go as I please. Gorbachev is good man. If not for him, I don't know how I would have ever gotten to see you again. Your President Reagan is good man too."

"Yeah." Alison chuckled. "You could have defected, you know."

"I would have been caught, sent to Siberia, freeze ass off. No good with frozen ass, yes?"

Just then the bedroom door eased open ever so slightly. Fast as lightning Alexei snatched the sheet off the bed and wrapped it around his middle, and Alison curled her body into as tiny a ball as she could make it. They both heard a sharp gasp, and the door slammed shut. Alexei opened it a tiny crack.

"What is it, Dasha?"

"I wait for you to come to kitchen for breakfast. You never show up. I was afraid you were sick. I am very sorry."

"That is all right. Is my fault. I forgot to lock door," Alexei told his daughter.

Alison wanted to crawl under the bed. "She knows what we did last night!" she whispered fiercely.

"So? We are both adults. It is not a big deal. Same thing happen with me and Nadya a few times when she was little."

Alexei saw the pain in Alison's eyes and gently kissed her lips. "Please don't be sad, little one. You are only woman I love from now on."

He was still holding the sheet around his waist. "Let me look at you." Alison gently tossed the sheet aside.

"See something you like?" Alexei asked cheekily as he saw where her eyes immediately went.

"Mm hm." Alison began to shower his most intimate parts with kisses.

"Dearest Alisonka," he murmured, tenderly stroking her hair. Her momentary sadness had disappeared, to be replaced with unadulterated joy.

* * *

"You slept with him this time, didn't you?" were the first words out of Denny's mouth when Alison arrived home later that afternoon to find her son sprawled in front of the TV.

"So what if I did?" she asked defiantly.

"Just be careful, that's all." Denny's tone had changed from one of accusation to one of concern. "Don't catch any diseases from him. You know how things are over there."

"No, I _don't _know how things are 'over there'," Alison said indignantly. "Alexei hasn't been with a woman since..." She bit down on her lower lip so hard that it almost bled.

"You believe that?"

"Of course. Alexei wouldn't lie to me."

Denny shrugged. "I sure hope you're right."

Later that evening, Alison fixed herself a TV dinner and asked Denny if he wanted one too.

"No, thanks," he said. "I'm going out for a bit. I don't know when I'll be back."

"By yourself?"

Denny blushed. "With Dasha," he said sheepishly.


	13. Of Lawyers And Ice Skating Rinks

Alison was just finishing breakfast the following morning when the phone rang. It was Alexei.

"I need to hear your voice," he told her. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, Alexei. Every inch of you," she said saucily.

He roared with laughter. "Is true of me as well. I miss every inch of my Alisonka."

"When I was little, my parents used to call me Allie."

"Allie? No, I do not like it. Sounds like Arab name." The way he pronounced it, it _did _sound more like 'Ali' than 'Allie'.

"I have newspaper, Alisonka. Have been looking at jobs. Many of them I could do, if I could only get work permit."

"What kind of work did you do back in Russia, Alexei? After you got out of the Navy, I mean."

"I work on computers, repair them. Was how I met Nadya. I never tell you that, did I?"

"No, I don't think so," Alison said vaguely. She felt the familiar pain in her heart, yet this time it didn't seem to prick quite as sharply.

"She was ballet instructor at secondary school. I go there to fix their computer. Her brother is famous ballet dancer. Perhaps not so much over here, but back home."

"Well, there are lots of jobs like that around here. People who know a lot about computers are really in big demand. I'm sure you'd have no problem at all getting a job if you had a work permit." Alison wanted desperately to change the subject.

"What about you, Alison? How you meet Dennis?"

"At the roller skating rink. He chose me as his partner for a couples' skate."

"Roller skating?" Alexei laughed sharply. "I been ice skating my entire life, Alison, since I was little boy. There is a rink nearby, yes?"

"Not here in Gloucester. I think there's one in Boston."

"I take you sometime."

"Alexei, did you know my son is dating your daughter?"

"Of course I know. Is wonderful, yes?"

* * *

"I bring both good news and bad news," Alexei announced the next time he and Alison were together. "Which you want to hear first?"

"Um...the bad news, I guess." Alison could feel her heart beginning to pound in her chest.

"I talk to lawyer," Alexei told her. "He say he can help me get visa extension, perhaps documentation, even. But he charge a lot of money and have to be paid first. I can stay here for summer, then must go home, work, save up money for lawyer, then come back."

"Oh, Alexei." Alison felt as if all the air had been knocked out of her. "How long do you think it will take to save up the money for the lawyer?"

Alexei thought for a moment. "Six months at least, I think, perhaps a year at most."

"Oh, no!" Alison felt as if her entire world were crashing down around her.

"Dearest Alisonka." Alexei's voice was tender as he put his arms around her. "It will only be for little while this time, and then when I come back again, we will be together for good."

"Well, that six months to a year is sure going to _feel _like a long time," Alison said bitterly.

"I know," Alexei said. "It will for me as well. But I write every day. Telephone also."

"But that's so expensive!"

"You are worth it." He smiled.

"So, what's the good news?" Alison asked.

"Good news is there is ice skating rink only fifty kilometers from here. We go there tomorrow."

* * *

"So, you have fun?" asked Alexei as he and Alison left the ice skating rink.

"That was the most fun I've ever had in my life!" Alison exclaimed. "I'm also more exhausted than I've ever been in my life!"

"Not _too _tired, I hope." He winked at her.

"For that? Never!" She giggled. "You really are the best ice skater I've ever seen, Alexei. Good enough for the Olympics, even."

He laughed. "A little old for that now. You could do as good also, Alison, with practice."

"Judging from the number of times you had to save me from falling on my butt, a _lot _of practice."

They were hardly inside the bedroom before Alexei was shedding his clothing and Alison was following suit.

"I come prepared this time," Alexei said, showing Alison a small package. Alison looked at it and saw that it was a condom. "I borrow from Denny," Alexei explained.

Alison gasped, and he burst out laughing. "I wish you could see look on your face right now," he said when he could talk again. "It is worth...how you say?...a million bucks."


	14. Seeing Annie Whitaker Again

"Wait." Alison knelt before Alexei. "You gave me pleasure last weekend," she said. "I want to give you pleasure as well, but I don't want to hurt you."

He chuckled. "Just don't use teeth."

She took him into her mouth, and he told her how best to pleasure him. When she heard him moaning she knew that she must be doing it right and felt really happy.

"That's enough," he said laughingly after a few minutes. "Now it is your turn."

She lay back on the bed and parted her legs, and he very quickly brought her to orgasm with his lips and tongue. Then he handed her the condom and she fumbled with it for a moment before giving up and handing it back to him. He quickly slipped it on and then entered her. He used his fingers to bring her over the edge a second time before going there himself.

"That's the first time I ever did that for a man," Alison confessed as they lay cuddling in one another's arms afterwards.

Alexei gaped at her, disbelief in his eyes. "What about Dennis?"

"We barely had time to do anything at all before he was sent to Vietnam," Alison said sadly. "We had just enough time for me to get pregnant, and that was all."

"Is very sad for Denny to grow up without his father," Alexei said sympathetically. "He seems to have turned out to be fine young man anyway. You have my admiration."

"Thank you." Alison smiled. "And Alexei...thank you for being patient with me. I know I'm not very skilled at...well, you know..."

"It is all right, Alisonka," Alexei said tenderly. "You are honest, don't pretend to know what you do not, and for that I respect you very much. We are from different cultures, so of course there will be adjustments. That is to be expected. But it is all right." He hugged and kissed her for reassurance, and she contentedly fell asleep in his arms.

* * *

"I promised Annie Price I'd go shopping with her this afternoon," Alison told Alexei the following morning. "Her name was Annie Whitaker before she got married. Do you remember her? She was the little girl I was babysitting the day you and the others came."

"Of course I remember!" Alexei said.

"Why don't you come along? I'm sure she'd love to see you again."

"What kind of shopping?" Alexei asked warily.

"She's expecting another baby, and she needs some furniture for the nursery."

"Ah, baby furniture. Reminds me of going shopping with Nadya before Dasha was born. Of course I will come. It will be like reliving old memories." Alison thought of being pregnant with Denny, of shopping alone for the things he would need and having to just guess at what Dennis would have approved of.

After lunch, Alison drove to Annie's house, where Annie sat watching her three-year-old son, Tyson, play.

"Annie, do you remember Alexei Kolchin from the Russian submarine? You were very little then..."

"Oh, yes! I remember you." Annie smiled at Alexei.

"You are all grown up now, and so is little boy who fell from church tower. Where is he now?"

"He and my husband are both in Iraq now, trying to save the world from a _real _dictator, Saddam Hussein. Your Nikita Khrushchev was a kitten compared to him."

"Let me tell you something about Nikita Khrushchev that I'll bet you did not know," said Alexei. "He went to your President Kennedy's funeral. That happen in my last year of school, before I join navy. We were all so shocked, so sad."

"I was in the tenth grade," said Alison. "We were all shocked and saddened as well."

"How come you talk funny?" little Tyson asked Alexei.

"I am spy," Alexei told him. "I come to steal atomic secrets so that we can build better bomb and blow you up first. Let me guess. You are CIA, right?"

Tyson looked puzzled. Annie burst out laughing. "He says that with such a straight face."

"Alexei's from another country," Alison told Tyson. "That's why he sounds different when he talks."

"You mean like ALF?"

"Yeah, kind of like that." Alison giggled. "Well, if everyone's ready, let's go."

They went to four different stores, and Annie bought a crib, a rocking chair, and a changing table.

"That's enough shopping for one day," she said as they left the last store. "I'm tired."

"Well, you certainly shouldn't overexert yourself," said Alison.

"You sound just like my Mom sometimes," Annie told her.

"I remember your Mom," said Alexei. "She was nice lady. She and your father still live here as well?"

"Oh, yes," said Annie. "My Dad's retired now, of course."

"And your brother?"

"He still lives here too. He's married with two sons. So you never married, Alexei?" She'd noticed that he and Alison were holding hands.

"I was married, once," Alexei said softly. "My wife, she die of cancer."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Annie. "Do you have any children?"

"I have one daughter, Darya. She is eighteen. She is here in the U.S. as well."

"Wow, the same age as Denny. Have they met yet?"

Alexei and Alison laughed.

"Oh...I see." Annie laughed too. "Well, I think that's really neat. And you guys are together again, too. That's just too cool for words."

"Alison, she was alone for very long time," Alexei said. "I hope that I can make it up to her."

"You already have," said Alison. Suddenly there was a lump in her throat and she couldn't say anything more. Alexei hugged her and kissed the top of her head.

Annie giggled. "You two are so cute together."


	15. Stroganoff And Olympic Gymnasts

"I want to go to international grocery," Alexei told Alison after they'd left Annie's house.

"Haven't we done enough shopping for one day?" asked Alison.

"I make special dinner for you tonight," said Alexei. "I make stroganoff. For that you cannot find ingredients in regular grocery."

"Why, isn't it mostly just beef, mushrooms, sour cream, and peas?" asked Alison.

"Oh, no. Much more to it than that." Alexei laughed. "You Americans do not know how to make stroganoff."

Just outside the international grocery, a man wearing an obviously expensive suit stood handing out tracts.

"Let me ask you something, sir," the man said to Alexei. "If you died tonight, do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you'd go to heaven?"

Alexei blinked, taken aback. "But it cannot be known that there is a heaven. No one has ever been there and back."

"You're wrong," the man said. "We can know that there is a heaven, because _Jesus _has been there and back. Do you know what this is?" The man held up a Bible. Alexei's eyes widened.

"This is the word of God. It tells us that there is a heaven, and that Jesus has been there and back."

"My grandmother, she was Christian." Alexei smiled weakly. "She know all about the holy days, the festivals, the saints..."

"Festivals and saints are _not _what true Christianity is all about," the man said adamantly. "True Christianity is about having a personal relationship with God."

"My grandmother believe in God as well, His son Jesus, His mother Maria of the virgin birth. She have Bible just like you, have to keep it well hidden of course, but she have it, show it to me once when I was little boy."

"Do you know the plan of salvation?" the man asked.

Alexei just stared, totally bewildered.

"I'm sorry sir, but we really need to be going. Excuse us," Alison said, taking Alexei's arm.

"Please read this. It tells the plan of salvation." The man shoved a tract at Alexei, who stuffed it in his pocket because he was too polite to do anything else.

"Why does he stand there and ask people if they are Christian?" Alexei asked Alison on the way back to the motel.

"He thinks that he's saving their souls, that if he can convince them to become Christians, they'll go to heaven when they die," Alison told him.

"But that is no good," Alexei said. "If people think that only life after death matters, then they don't so much care that they have good life now. They will say, I have hard life now, but it is all right, because after I die it will all be good. That is how ruling class keep working class from rebelling, they say don't worry about it, it will all be fine in the next life. That is how the Tsar was. He was Christian. It is all very wrong, so wrong."

Alison could see that Alexei was getting very upset and changed the subject.

"Little Tyson sure is cute, isn't he?"

"Very smart as well. Much like his mother at that age," Alexei said gratefully.

Moments later they were in the kitchen at the motel and Alexei was laying out various spices and other ingredients.

"Do you need any help?" asked Alison.

"Oh, no. I do all the work. You watch and I teach you." He chuckled. "After Nadya die, I have to learn how to cook myself."

Denny and Darya came in about half an hour later.

"You will stay for dinner, yes?" Alexei asked them. "There is plenty for everyone."

"Of course we'll stay." Denny sat on the sofa, and Darya sat in his lap. Instantly Alison had a flashback of herself and Alexei sitting together on the beach all those years ago and had to swallow a lump in her throat.

"Papa, Polina is coming here soon," Darya announced.

Alexei frowned. "Polina? Why she come here?"

"Just to visit me. I told her about beach, and she say she have to see for herself."

"Who's Polina?" asked Alison.

"She is my very best friend in the world," Darya told her. "She and I both try out for Olympics in 1988. She made it. I did not. She tell me, that is all right, you make it in 1992. But I am here now. Don't know if I will ever go back or not."

"Olympics?" Alison was surprised.

"Gymnastics," Alexei said proudly. "Dasha, she is very good, better than Polina, I think, but for some reason they choose Polina and not her."

After dinner Darya entertained the others with handstands, cartwheels, and other stunts.

"You're going to break your neck!" Alison gasped.

Alexei laughed. "It is all right."

"But shouldn't she at least have a mat, or something?"

"She will be fine," Alexei insisted.

After awhile Denny and Darya left and Alexei and Alison were alone again.

"What did she mean when she said that she doesn't know if she's going home or not?" Alison asked.

"Dasha qualify for student visa," Alexei said. "She enroll in college here, has permission to stay as long as she is full-time student."

"So she gets to stay and you have to go back?"

"That is correct."

"It's not fair." Alison's eyes filled with tears, and she looked away, hoping that Alexei wouldn't see them, but he did.

"Dearest, precious Alisonka," he said, reaching for her and taking her into his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder. "It will only be for a little while this time, and then I will come back for good. I promise."


	16. Polina

At the end of each day, Alison was acutely aware that it was one more day closer to the day that Alexei would have to return home. She cherished every day that she had to spend with him, feeling that it was a wasted day if she didn't spend at least a few minutes chatting with him on the telephone if she couldn't see him in person.

She also noticed that Denny had fallen very hard for Darya. He'd dated girls before, of course, but he'd never become seriously involved with any of them. To Alison he seemed completely infatuated with Darya; she was the only thing he ever talked about, and he walked around with glazed eyes and a goofy grin on his face most of the time. It reminded Alison somewhat of the way she'd felt about Alexei for the first few weeks after she'd met him.

One afternoon Alison came home to find Denny and Darya sitting in the living room with a young woman about their age whom she'd never seen before.

"Mom, this is Polina," Denny said.

"Hello." Alison smiled at Polina, and the young woman smiled back.

"She doesn't speak English," Denny explained.

"None at all?" Alison frowned.

"I must translate." Darya laughed.

Alison didn't want to be rude, but she wasn't exactly sure how to interact with someone who spoke no English at all.

"I hear you're quite a talented gymnast," she ventured.

Darya repeated the sentence in Russian to Polina, who laughed and said something in return.

"She say the Olympics were her crowning achievement, now she move onto something else," Darya told Alison.

After a few such awkward interactions, Denny drove Darya and Polina back to Alexei's.

"That must be awkward for you, having to have Darya translate for you all the time," Alison remarked to her son when he returned.

"They don't talk to me all that much. Mostly they just talk to each other in Russian," Denny replied.

Alison had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. "That must make you feel pretty left out," she said. Denny shrugged.

That Friday night, Alison left to go to Alexei's, as usual.

"Aren't you meeting Darya as well?" she asked Denny.

"Nah, she's got some stomach bug or something," Denny said.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Alison said. "Tell her I hope she feels better soon."

Alexei greeted her with the usual smile, looking chipper as always.

"I'm sorry to hear Darya isn't feeling well," Alison told him.

He looked taken aback for just a moment but recovered quickly. "Dasha? It is nothing serious. She will be fine," he said dismissively.

They went to dinner and then to see a movie called 'Regarding Henry' that made Alison cry. It seemed to put them both in a romantic mood, as afterwards they returned to the motel and had one of their most tender yet passionate lovemaking sessions ever.

Late that night, Alison awakened abruptly to find herself unbearably thirsty. On her way to the kitchen, she thought she heard a muffled giggle as she passed Darya's bedroom. She noticed that the door was open a tiny crack and couldn't resist peeping inside. By candlelight she could just barely make out two forms, Darya and Polina, both of them completely naked, kissing one another's lips passionately while their hands explored one another's bodies.

Alison suddenly felt sick to her stomach. The only thing she wanted to do was to return to her own house as quickly as possible. Snatching up her clothing, she dressed as quickly and quietly as she could, left the motel, and drove home. Upon reaching the house, her first instinct was to check on Denny and make sure that he was all right. She opened his bedroom door and saw him lying peacefully asleep, blissfully unaware that anything was amiss. To Alison he suddenly seemed much younger, and her eyes filled with tears. Somehow she managed to hold back the sobs until she'd reached her own bedroom and could close the door.

How on earth would she tell him? He so obviously adored Darya, and he was also so trusting. If she told him, he'd be absolutely devastated. She realized that she simply couldn't bring herself to do that. But what else could she do? He had to find out eventually, somehow. He couldn't just let things continue on as they were, having no idea that Darya wasn't as she seemed to be at all.

And what about Alexei? She'd left without saying good-bye to him. Would he be angry? What would she say to him the next time they spoke? Did he know the true nature of Darya and Polina's relationship?

The next day Alexei showed up on Alison's front porch right after Denny had eaten breakfast and left for the day.

"I had to come to see if you were all right." His voice was full of concern, and that touched her. "You leave in the middle of the night. I was afraid you were sick or some other emergency."

"I saw Darya and Polina together." As soon as she had said the words, Alison felt as if a tremendous weight had just been lifted from her shoulders.

"Yes," Alexei said calmly.

"So you _know?" _Alison asked incredulously.

Alexei didn't say anything but simply continued to stare calmly at her.

"Denny deserves to know," Alison said hotly. "Can't you see how crazy he is about her? When he finds out, it'll break his heart."

"He will not find out," Alexei said.

"But he has a right to know," Alison repeated.

"No, he doesn't."

"But I _can't _just keep something like that from my own son!"

"Dasha is my daughter, and I will not have her hurt either," Alexei said coldly. "That is why Denny cannot find out. If you tell him, I will deny it."

Alison couldn't believe her ears.


	17. Almost Imagine

She could only stand and stare as Alexei turned and calmly walked away. She simply couldn't believe the turn events had taken, and how swiftly it had happened. She felt as if perhaps she'd never really known Alexei at all.

To try to take her mind off things, Alison decided to visit a flea market in a nearby town. She hadn't been to it in a long time, but she'd often found really good bargains on household items and collectibles there in the past. She'd planned to take Alexei there eventually. He'd probably never even heard of the concept of flea markets. When that thought crossed her mind, she had to swallow a lump in her throat.

In one of the stalls, she saw a set of dolls that fit one into another just like the dolls Darya had given her. She asked the lady running the stall what they were called.

"Those are matryoshka dolls," the woman told her. "Would you like to see them?"

"No, thank you," Alison said. "I already have a set."

Alison bought books, a CD, earrings, stationery, and craft items. She had a lot of fun and managed to forget her troubles for a couple of hours. She had an oyster sandwich for lunch and then drove back to Gloucester.

Driving past the motel, she began to feel the sadness settle over her once again. She felt lonelier than she had in a very long time. Would she ever see Alexei again? Did she even _want _to?

Later that evening she found herself wandering along the same stretch of beach where she, Alexei, and Annie Whittaker had frolicked all those years ago. She saw the rock upon which they had sat when they'd kissed for the first time. _"Is permitted to say that I have strong feeling of affection for you already?"_

Alison sat on the rock and cried her heart out. If only he could have stayed the first time he'd come...if only things could have been different...but it was too late now, wasn't it? They were two different people with two different lives, different sets of priorities, different loyalties...it could never, ever be simple again, could it?

Suddenly Alison felt a set of arms around her, holding her tight. She looked up into Alexei's clear blue eyes, and he gently brushed the tears away with his thumb.

"It is all right, Alison," he murmured. "Polina is gone."

"What do you mean, gone?" asked Alison.

"I tell Dasha that she must choose, Polina or Denny. She cannot have both. She choose Denny. Polina go back to Russia." Gently Alexei stroked Alison's cheek. "Dearest Alisonka, I cannot bear to see you so sad. Come back to motel with me. I make you feel better."

Alison took his hand, and together they walked back to the motel. Once there, Alison sat on the sofa while Alexei made her a white Russian, then poured himself a shot of vodka and sat down beside her.

"I thought you were angry at me," said Alison.

"Oh, no," Alexei quickly assured her. "I understand completely. You are concerned for Denny's happiness, just as I am for Dasha's. That is as it should be." He grinned and put his arm around her. She snuggled up against him, hesitantly at first, then more boldly.

After awhile Denny and Darya came in, smiling with flushed faces, obviously very much in love.

Alison greeted her son, and he greeted her back.

"We can only stay for a minute. I'm taking Dasha bowling," he said.

Darya kissed her father good-bye, and they left.

"Was Dasha angry about having to give Polina up?" asked Alison.

"Oh, no." Alexei chuckled. "She was more relieved. You see, Dasha have a very hard time when her mother die. She meet Polina, and they become very good friends. From there it go to more. Dasha come to America, meet Denny, she say to me, 'Papa, I am in love.' But then, Polina want to come. Dasha say all right, don't want to hurt her feelings. Polina come, old feelings return. Dasha don't want to hurt anyone. Is very hard for her to tell Polina she love Denny now, but I make her do it."

Alison, reeling from emotional overload, didn't quite know what to say. Alexei looked at her with eyes soft with concern.

"You are all right, Alison? You have good morning?"

"I had a very nice morning, thanks. I went to the flea market in the next town over. I found some really cool stuff. I'll show it to you sometime, if you like."

"That is good. I want you to be happy, Alison, because you make me so very happy. I think I will never smile again, but you make me smile. You are wonderful woman, live in wonderful country. Crazy man can stand on street corner shouting and handing out pamphlets; he is crazy, yes, but he is also free. No one will arrest him for it. You go in store, there is plenty to chose from, no shortages, no long lines. No fear of KGB, no need to worry about people watching you, spying on you. Is wonderful country. I am very happy here. Never want to leave."

"But don't you miss your family?"

"Of course I miss them. Maybe someday, they can come here too."

"I love you, Alexei." When she squinted her eyes just so, she could just about see the fresh, innocent face of the boy of twenty she'd fallen for all those years ago. As he pressed his lips to hers and she felt the now-familiar passion flow through her body, she could almost imagine that she was eighteen again.


	18. Visiting The Palmers

That night, Alison dreamed of the long-ago day that the submarine carrying Alexei had come to her island home. In her dream she and Alexei had still been on the beach when the submarine had finally departed and Alexei had missed it.

"I guess that means you'll have to stay here then," Alison told him. She didn't realize that she'd spoken aloud until she opened her eyes and saw Alexei laughing.

"But I _want _to stay here," he said.

"It was just a dream I had," Alison said, somewhat embarrassed.

"What did you dream?"

Alison sighed. "I dreamed that you were able to stay the first time you came."

"Would have been nice." Alexei smiled and kissed her nose. "But what we have now is nice as well, yes? Means even more to us, since we had to wait so long for it."

"I hadn't really thought about it, but you're right." Alison smiled. "How do you say 'I love you' in Russian?"

_"Ya tibya lyublyu." _

_"Ya tibya lyublyu, _Alexei." Alison stumbled over the pronunciation of the last word of the phrase.

_"Ya tibya lyublyu, _Alisonka." Alexei hugged her tightly and kissed her. "Very much."

* * *

One weekend Alison's parents invited Alison and Alexei over for dinner. They hadn't met Alexei the first time he'd come to Gloucester, but they knew how much he'd meant to Alison and how much she'd missed him after he'd had to go back home. They invited Denny too, of course, but he told Alison he had something special planned with Darya that night.

Alexei was obviously nervous when Alison picked him up.

"I hope very much that they will like me," he said.

"Of course they will," Alison assured him. "How can they help it?"

Alison pulled into the driveway and parked, and she and Alexei walked to the front porch holding hands.

Alison's mother, Jewel, opened the door for them. She was about Alison's height and plump, with her gray hair pulled back into a bun and friendly blue eyes.

"Come on in," she said warmly. "Make yourself at home. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

Alison's father, Alan, sat in a recliner, reading. He was tall, slender, and partially bald.

"So you're Alison's Russian friend," he said. "Alexei, right?"

"Right."

"Were you named for Tsar Nicholas' son?"

"Oh, no." Alexei chuckled. "I was named for my father's younger brother. He was only twelve years old when he die. He work in factory, carry hods full of bricks up ladders. Ladders are too close together, hods are falling apart, but no one dare say anything for fear of being sent to gulag in Siberia. Anyway, one day a hod is broken, many bricks fall on my uncle, break his back and kill him. Twelve years old."

"My God, that's terrible!" Alan said. "I'm so sorry!"

"It was during earlier years of Stalin, before war," said Alexei. "In that time, individual lives matter nothing at all in the name of progress. After that came war. My father fight in Battle of Stalingrad, see much suffering and death. He never get over it, just like Alison's friend with no legs."

"Dennis' friend Marty," Alison explained. "I think I told you about him."

"Oh, yes, I remember Marty," said Jewel. "Very, very sad."

"It was just like that for my father, my papa," Alexei continued. "After war he always drink too much. Finally his liver fail and he die."

"That's such a shame," said Alan. "I was in that same war."

"I know. Alison tell me."

After dinner Alison helped Jewel with the dishes while Alan and Alexei talked some more in the living room.

"Your friend seems so nice," Jewel commented. "I'd wondered whether for you it was just the novelty of the thing, or perhaps a form of rebellion, but after seeing you two together, I can tell that you really care for him."

"He _is _nice, and I _do _really care for him," said Alison. "Russians are people just like us, Mom. That's what I've been trying to tell you for years."

"They don't believe in God," said Jewel. "And they brainwash people, don't they?"

"If that's true, Alexei can't help it," said Alison.

"I know he can't," her mother replied. "I don't hold it against him at all. In fact, I feel sorry for him."

"There's no need to," said Alison. "He's planning to stay in the United States and become a legal resident."

"That's good," said Jewel. "Maybe after awhile he can even become a citizen."

Several hours later it was near dusk and Alison and Alexei were on their way home.

"I have good news, Alison," said Alexei. "I tell your father the situation about the lawyer, and he loan me the money I need."

"That's great!" Alison felt happier than she had in a long time. "So you don't have to go back home after all, then."

"Right." Alexei grinned and patted Alison's knee. "Now I never have to leave you again."

They were about half way home when the car broke down.


	19. Of Transmissions And Ballet Dancers

"Oh, no!" Alison wailed.

"Want me to try?" asked Alexei. He tried to start the car himself but was also unsuccessful.

Together they managed to push the car to the side of the road and started on the trek to the nearest gas station, where Alison called first a wrecker and then a taxi. Then they rode back to Alexei's motel room. Once there, Alison sank down onto the sofa and buried her head in her hands.

"God, Alexei, what am I gonna do now?"

"Dear little Alisonka, please do not be so sad." Alexei sat beside her and began to massage her shoulder. "It is only a car. It could be Alisonka who is broken instead. Would be much worse, yes?"

"Yeah, you're right." Alison chuckled. "You're so good at helping me put things in perspective...God, that feels _so _good...you have the world's most talented hands..."

"I know." Alexei laughed. He was massaging both her shoulders now. Alison closed her eyes and felt the tension in her body slowly ease away.

* * *

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but your transmission is going to have to be replaced," the mechanic told Alison. He told her how much the total repair would cost, and she paled.

"See! Nothing to worry about," said Alexei. "I have that exact amount right here." He handed the mechanic the check Alison's father had just given him.

"But that was your money for the immigration attorney!" Alison protested. "I probably had enough on my credit card! I could have checked, at least..."

Alexei put his finger to her lips. "Dear little Alison, it is only money. I will get to stay. There will be another way. Much more important to get your car fixed. You need it for work."

"But, Alexei..."

"Sh. Not another word. It will be all right, I promise."

"Oh, Alexei." Overcome, she could only cling to him, burying her face in his chest as he held her close.

* * *

For a week, Alison was driven to and from work by Denny. The following weekend, he drove her to the mechanic to pick up her car, and she drove to Alexei's motel room right away.

Alexei was on the telephone speaking in Russian when Alison rang his doorbell. He motioned for her to come in and sit down on the sofa. When he hung up the phone he grinned at her.

"See? Problem is already solved," he told her. "Remember how I told you I have brother-in-law who is famous ballet dancer?"

"Your sister's husband?"

"Nadya's brother."

"Oh, yeah, that's right."

"His name is Sergei Medvedev. That was him on phone just now. I tell him about situation with car and lawyer. He say he will send me the money for lawyer."

"Wow! He'd really do that?" Alison was overwhelmed with relief.

"I have know him for long time. If he says he will, then he will."

Alison chuckled. "So, did you tell him you're in love with an American Capitalist?"

Alexei laughed and shook his head. "Oh, no. I did not say Capitalist. I do not think of you as Capitalist."

"What do you think of me as, then?"

He shrugged. "Just as Alisonka." He grinned. "Why, do you think of me a Communist?"

"No, just as Alexei, the man I love."

"Ah, Alison, come here." He beckoned with his hands, and Alison went to him. He held her close and softly stroked her hair, and she leaned her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. They just stood like that for a long time.


	20. Summer's End

A couple of weeks passed. One evening when Alison went to visit Alexei, she saw that he was bursting with excitement.

"Alison! Guess what! I have it!" He laughed joyfully and picked her up and spun her around.

"You have _what, _Alexei?"

"My green card! I finally have it! See?" He showed her the document. "I didn't tell you over phone because I wanted to surprise you!"

"Oh, Alexei, that's wonderful!" She hugged him tightly, and he kissed her lips.

"Now I will never have to leave you again," he said happily.

"We should do something special to celebrate," Alison suggested.

"I take you to nicest restaurant in Gloucester," Alexei told her.

They went to dinner, dancing, and then back to the motel, where they made love all night. Alexei seemed to have the vigor of a man twenty years younger.

They spent all day Saturday and Sunday at the beach together, playing in the water, riding the waves, and lying on the shore soaking up the sun.

"The cooler weather will be here soon," Alison said. "We may as well enjoy the warm weather while we can."

"Is nice that when weather is cooler, I will still be here," Alexei replied.

"I'm so glad I don't have to dread saying good-bye to you anymore," Alison said. His response was to hold her tight and kiss her passionately.

Monday evening he called her after dinner.

"I have been looking for job," he told her. "Is very hard. I must apply to many places."

"I'm sure you'll find something soon," Alison encouraged him.

Cooler weather _did _come to Gloucester. Denny and Darya both began attending the local university. Darya's English was much improved, so she only had to sign up for a couple of remedial classes. Alison didn't mention it, but secretly she wondered whether Darya was meeting other young women in her classes and becoming attracted to them. She knew that Denny had no idea that Darya was bisexual and that it would have to stay that way.

One evening several weeks later, Alexei called Alison with happy news.

"Guess what!" he exclaimed. "I have job!"

"That's great!" Alison said. "What kind of job?"

"Automobile company hire me to install navigational devices," Alexei told her. "I tell them about my experience on Soviet submarine. They are very impressed. Say that I am just the man for the job."

"Oh, Alexei, that's wonderful!" Alison exclaimed. "When do you start?"

"Next Monday. Now I have job, next will be to buy house and car. After that...who knows?"

_And where do I fit in with all these plans? _Alison wanted to ask. She knew that Alexei loved her, but so far he'd said nothing at all about the future of their relationship. If he was planning to buy a house, that must mean that he wasn't planning to move in with her. Not that she'd asked him to; in truth, she wasn't sure which of them should be the first to bring the subject up, since Alexei was the first man she'd been seriously involved with since Dennis had died. In the end she decided that it would be best to just take things day by day and see how they developed.

When Alexei called Alison very late one night, she could tell from his voice that something was seriously wrong.

"I am at hospital with Darya," he told her. "She have pain in her side, it just get worse and worse, finally she can't take it anymore so I bring her here to emergency room. They think it is her appendix."

"I'll be there right away," Alison said.


	21. Misty

Alison arrived at the hospital emergency room to find Alexei looking more distraught than she'd ever seen him. Listlessly he stood around the check-out station awaiting her arrival.

"Alison!" he cried when he saw her. She rushed to him and he held her tightly. "I am so happy to see you," he told her. They stood like that for a few minutes, and then Alison looked up into Alexei's worried blue eyes.

"Where is she?"

"She is in surgery now. They are taking her appendix out. Say it will be a few hours."

"Oh, Alexei," Alison murmured sympathetically. "I'll see if Denny's back home yet. He should be here too."

She tried calling Denny at several thirty-minute intervals but got no answer. She frowned. "He should be home by now. I hope he hasn't had car trouble or anything."

Right after her third attempt, the doctor came out to talk to Alexei.

"Her appendix had ruptured," the doctor told him. "We had to make an incision in her abdomen to get all the infection out. She's in recovery now. You can go in and see her in about thirty minutes."

"I really am worried about Denny," said Alison. "I'll just run by the house really quick to see if he's home yet, and then I'll come right back up here to the hospital."

"Be careful," said Alexei.

"Of course I will," Alison replied.

When she reached her house she saw that Denny's car was parked in its usual place. When she entered the house, she saw that Denny and a former girlfriend of his, Misty, were underneath a quilt on the sofa. They both sat up and stared at Alison in alarm.

"What in the world is going on here?" Alison demanded.

"Nothing," Denny mumbled, staring at the floor in shame.

"Darya's in the hospital. Her appendix burst," Alison told her son.

"What? Oh my God!" Denny sprang from under the quilt, and Alison saw that he was wearing only his underwear.

"Who the hell is Darya?" asked Misty, who was wearing only her bra and panties. She, like Denny, quickly dressed.

"How is she?" asked Denny.

"She just got out of surgery. I've been trying to reach you for several hours," said Alison.

"Get in the car, Misty," said Denny. "I'm taking you home and then going straight to the hospital."

Misty looked angry, but she did as she was told.

Alison's head was spinning as she drove back to the hospital herself. What she'd just seen had shocked her. She'd thought that Denny was head over heels in love with Darya and couldn't understand how he could have been making out with Misty. It made her feel as if she didn't really know her own son.

When Alison and Denny arrived at the hospital, they found that Darya had already been taken from the recovery room to a regular room. Alexei sat in a chair by her side, his face lined with worry. He glanced up when Alison and Denny entered the room.

"Denny! You are here now. That is good."

"How is she?"

"They say she will be all right. All the infection is gone now."

"Thank God!" Denny exclaimed. He and Alison looked at Darya lying sound asleep in bed, her dark hair strewn across the pillow. To Alison she looked like little more than a child. Denny sat at her other side and took her hand into his own. Alison offered Alexei her hand, and he clasped it tightly. The three of them sat like that for a long time, not saying anything.

After awhile, Darya's eyelids began to flutter, and she opened her eyes. She mumbled something in Russian, and Alexei held a Styrofoam cup with a straw in it for her to drink from. She took a long sip, then asked Alexei something in Russian. A moment later, Alison saw that her face was twisted in agony. Alexei buzzed for the nurse.

"She need something for pain," he told her when she arrived. Right away she brought something to put into Darya's IV, and Darya was soon asleep again. Alison and Denny stayed for a few more hours, then said good-bye to Alexei, who was planning to stay.

As soon as they were home, Alison confronted Denny.

"How _could _you?" she asked. "I thought you loved Darya, and then I come home and find you with Misty!"

"I _do _love Darya," Denny insisted. "I didn't mean for the thing with Misty to happen. I met up with her in the bowling alley and offered to show her some of my new CD's. We came home, and one thing led to another. Honest, Mom, I didn't intend to end up on the sofa with her. It just happened."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"I promise, I'll stay away from Misty from now on, Mom. I swear it. Please, please don't tell Alexei what happened."

Alison sighed. "All right," she said reluctantly, feeling guilty as she did so.


	22. Housewarming

Alison returned to the hospital after she got off work the next day. She found Darya asleep with Alexei sitting beside her bed with red-rimmed eyes.

"How is she?" she asked him.

"Still in a lot of pain. They give her medicine for it. Make her sleep a lot."

"Poor girl." Alison slipped her hand into Alexei's and he squeezed it tightly. As they watched Darya sleep, Alexei's mind wandered back to recent events. Darya's liaison with Polina. The previous night's incident between Denny and Misty.

"You know what?" she asked Alexei thoughtfully. "For a long time I felt a bit sad that we were apart for so many years, that we lost so much time together. But now I think that perhaps it's best after all that we got together for good in our forties instead of in our twenties. At the age we are now we're more settled, more sure of what we want. That's not always the case for people a generation younger than us."

"You know what I think, Alison? I think that you think way too much." Alexei chuckled. "It does not matter to me whether we are younger or older. Only important thing is that now we are together for good."

Desire suddenly welled up in Alison, and she kissed Alexei passionately. He responded in kind.

"Act your age, Papa!" They both turned to see Darya awake and grinning at them.

* * *

Darya was hospitalized for a week. Alison and Denny came by to visit her every day. Alexei stayed at the hospital the entire time.

After Darya was released, she returned to college and Alexei returned to work. She was still quite weak and in some pain for awhile afterwards. Denny spent large amounts of time with her, helping her to catch up on schoolwork she'd missed. After watching them together for awhile, Alison became satisfied that the incident with Misty had indeed been a one-time thing and that Denny was truly devoted to Darya, after all.

As soon as he was sure that Darya was definitely on the road to recovery, Alexei began house hunting. Alison went with him. He'd never bought a house before and didn't feel confident about it. They went in the afternoons after they'd both gotten off work.

At last Alexei found a house he liked not too far away from Alison's house. It was brick with three bedrooms and two baths. Alexei, Alison, Denny, and Darya spent all of one Saturday bringing Alexei's and Darya's belongings over from the motel. It was very late in the evening when they finally finished. There was still a lot of unpacking left to do, but they decided to leave it until the next morning.

Denny and Darya went to a restaurant for dinner, and Alexei and Alison ordered pizza. Alison bought wine coolers and Alexei drank his usual vodka. He was tired but ecstatic.

"America is such wonderful country," he said. "I cannot say it enough times. Already I have job and now home. Will never have to leave my Alisonka again."

He picked his balalaika up and began to play it.

"That's so beautiful," Alison sighed. "Different from any other kind of music I've ever heard."

"Would you like to learn to play?"

"I'd love to!" Alison exclaimed. Alexei taught her to play a simple melody.

"This reminds me of learning to play the ukelele in music in sixth grade," Alison remarked.

"It is similar," Alexei agreed. "Just no hula dancers." They both laughed. "You play very well too, for beginner. But perhaps time for something else now besides music." He gently took the instrument from her and put it away. Then he took both her hands into his own and kissed her lips. Her arms wrapped around his neck as the kiss deepened. Then he lifted her and carried her to his bed.

Their clothing was rapidly shed, and Alexei's lips were all over Alison, starting with her lips and then moving to her collarbone, then leaving a trail of kisses all the way down her belly. She gasped as he parted her legs and began to pleasure her with his tongue. Within seconds her climax washed over her, and she writhed in ecstasy.

"So do you like that?" Alexei teased, using his fingers to drive her even further over the edge.

"God, yes!" she moaned.

"I'll bet you never had Russian lover before, did you?"

"Nope, you're the first. Did you ever have an American lover before, Alexei?"

"It does not matter. We are together now. That is all that matters."

"Oh, Alexei," she breathed, and right away he was there inside her, making love to her.

"So, what other time did you come to the U.S. besides the time you met me?" Alison asked as they lay cuddling afterwards.

Alexei frowned. "That was only time, Alisonka. I tell you that already. If I could have had exit visa I would have come back to you much sooner."

"So could American women go to Russia, then?"

"I guess so, if they want. Why, you think you should have come to Russia to be with me? I do not think you would have been very happy. Life is much different there than here."

"No, that wasn't what I was thinking, but...well, never mind."

Alexei laughed. "You are good girl, Alisonka, but you worry too much about little things that do not matter at all."

"I suppose you're right." Alison yawned mightily. Alexei chuckled gently. "You are tired, Alisonka. Go to sleep, little one. Everything is all right. I love you."

"I love you, too," she mumbled. He began to rub her back, and she fell asleep within minutes.


	23. Sally And Sasha

Alison awoke the next morning in Alexei's new house. Memories of the events of the previous day washed over her. She looked over at Alexei and saw that he was still asleep. She watched him for a few minutes, thinking about how adorable he looked with his dark blond hair streaked with white in disarray and his eyes closed. She closed her own eyes again and cuddled up closer to him.

After awhile she found her hand wandering southward until it encountered his privates. She stroked him until he was hard, then moved down in the bed until she could take him into her mouth. Within a few minutes she felt his fingers stroking her hair and looked up to see him grinning at her.

"Sorry. Did I wake you up?"

He laughed. "It is all right. Very nice way to wake up." Gently he positioned her to where her mouth was level with his and kissed her deeply. Then he made love to her again.

Later in the morning they were busy unpacking when the doorbell rang. Alexei went to answer it, and when Alison followed a couple of minutes later, she saw him talking to an absolutely stunning blonde in about her early thirties who was holding a platter of brownies.

"Hi! I'm Sally. I live next door," she said. "I saw you moving in yesterday and wanted to come over and welcome you to the neighborhood."

"Is very nice to meet you, Sally," said Alexei. "I am Alexei, and this is Alison, the woman I love."

"Oh! You're from another country!" Sally squealed. "I love your accent!"

"Yes, I am from Russia." Alexei grinned, stepping aside as Sally pushed her way into the house. Immediately she began asking Alexei questions, almost completely ignoring Alison, who tried to be patient but soon found herself becoming irritated.

Sally stayed for several hours before finally saying good-bye, leaving the platter of brownies behind.

"Whew! She is gone," Alexei exclaimed with a relieved chuckle.

"You sound happy about that," Alison commented.

"She seem to be nice, but perhaps talk a little too much." He took a bite of a brownie. "She is good cook, however."

Later that afternoon, they took a walk for a few blocks until they came to a small deli, where they bought smoothies and sat on the patio in front drinking them and talking. A small orange cat came up and began rubbing its body against Alexei's legs. Alexei scratched between its ears.

"You are cute little one, but I cannot take you home. I have nothing to feed you."

When they finished their smoothies and left, the cat followed right behind Alexei, still rubbing against his legs and mewing.

"It looks like you have a cat now, Alexei," Alison said with a smile.

* * *

The next time Alison saw Alexei, he was livid with rage. She'd never seen him so upset before.

"Just look what they send me in mail!" he exploded, shoving a paper in Alison's face.

Alison glanced at it. "Why, it looks like it's just a bill from when Darya had her appendix out."

"They make me pay just because I have to take my daughter to hospital?" Alexei was incredulous.

"Well, yes, Alexei. That's the way it works in this country. You have to pay for health care just like you pay for rent and electricity."

"But health care is basic human right, just like education! Government should take care of that for everyone, like in my country!"

Alison laughed and shook her head.

"I will _not _pay it!" Alexei declared, stalking away angrily.

"That's up to you, but if you don't pay it, you'll start getting nasty letters from collection agencies."

Alexei scowled.

"You really should pay it, Alexei. If you don't, it might mess up your credit rating and make it harder for you to buy things over time. If you talk to the billing department at the hospital, I'm sure they can work out monthly payments for you that won't be _too _bad."

"Maybe America is not such a great place, after all."

"You don't really mean that. You're just upset right now." Alison rubbed Alexei's back, and he seemed to calm down. Within moments the cat was there, staring curiously at Alison.

"Well, hello there," said Alison, reaching to pet it. "What's your name?"

"Cat's name is Sasha." The hospital bill temporarily forgotten, Alexei grinned. "For my great nephew. His name is Alexander, but we call him Sasha. His father was my nephew Petya. He was killed in Afghanistan in 1984. I tell you about him, yes?"

"Maybe you did. I don't remember."

"Anyway, I don't know if cat is boy or girl, so I call it Sasha. It is girl's name in U.S., like Nikita, right?"

"Yeah. Has Sally been by again?"

Alexei laughed. "Oh, yes. She ask me lots of silly questions. She ask if in Russia we wear those fur hats all year long. I tell her no, we _do _have summer in Russia, even though it is very short, and in summer we wear swimsuits just like Americans do. She is nice girl, but not very smart. She watch too many movies."

"Is she married?"

"Yes, but her husband is in Middle East, like Annie's husband."

"Does she have any kids?"

"No."

"She's probably just lonely, then."

"Maybe."

Alison felt uncomfortable about the idea of a woman as attractive as Sally living next door to Alexei, but knew that there was nothing she could do about it.


	24. Thanksgiving

"You're a little cutie, aren't you?" The cat purred as Alison stroked its fur.

Alexei laughed. "Cat no like Sallochka. When she come over, cat run."

"Oh, so you call her Sallochka now?" Alison's voice had a definite edge to it.

Alexei frowned. "She is friend."

Suddenly Alison laughed. "Just listen to me! Getting upset over what you call the next door neighbor!" she exclaimed. "You're turning me into a Russian, Alexei."

Alexei laughed out loud and slapped Alison's bottom.

Sasha's gender soon became obvious as her belly became swollen with kittens.

"What shall I do? I must find homes for them all," Alexei told Alison.

"I'll ask some of the people at work," Alison offered. "I work with some real cat lovers."

It was almost time for Thanksgiving. Alexei had never heard of the holiday. Alison tried to explain it to him.

"It's in celebration of when the Pilgrims first came to America from England," she told him. "Their first winter was very harsh, and they almost starved to death. The Native Americans saved their lives by bringing them food. Many years later, one of the Presidents decided to commemorate their experience on the last Thursday of every November."

"So the reason it is called 'Thanksgiving' is to thank the Native Americans for bringing food to the Pilgrims?"

"Well, not exactly," said Alison. "Most people say they are thanking God for the food. The Native Americans have been kind of forgotten."

"That make no sense," said Alexei. "Also not fair to Native Americans."

"Absolutely. The Native Americans have been treated very unfairly over the years," Alison agreed.

"Where are they today?" asked Alexei.

"Most of them just assimilated into mainstream American culture," Alison told him. "Lots of Americans have Native American ancestors, including me. The ones who wanted to hang onto their own culture live on reservations, mostly in the southwest. They're very poor and have high rates of alcoholism and suicide."

"That is very sad," said Alexei. "I have seen pictures of them before. They wear feather headdresses and beads, yes?"

"They do on special occasions, like pow wows," said Alison. "We could go to one sometime, if you'd like. They're quite interesting. They do traditional dancing and chants and things like that."

"I think I would like that very much," said Alexei.

Alison's parents invited Alison, Alexei, Denny, and Darya over for Thanksgiving dinner. It was the first time the Palmers had ever met Darya.

"You look just like your father," Jewel told her.

"I have hair like my mother," said Darya. "I have picture of her if you want to see."

"Of course!" said Jewel.

It was the first time Alison had ever seen a picture of Alexei's wife, Nadya.

"She was beautiful," Jewel observed. It was true. Nadya had been a brunette, a bit taller than Alison.

"Yes, she was," Alexei said quietly. He looked very sad. Alison squeezed his hand, and he looked at her gratefully.

"Alison was married for less than a year when she lost Dennis in 'Nam," Jewel told Alexei. "That's his picture, there." She nodded toward Dennis and Alison's wedding picture, which was on a stand in the living room.

Alexei walked over to the picture and picked it up. "Oh, Alison, you are so beautiful in this picture," he said.

"You mean I'm not beautiful now?" teased Alison.

"You are even more beautiful now," said Alexei.

"Aw. you're so sweet." Alison went to him and hugged and kissed him.

"Alison tell me sad story about Native Americans," Alexei told the Palmers.

"Oh, yes," Jewel said. "My grandmother was half Choctaw. I don't know if Alison told you that."

"Yes, she say that she have some Native American ancestors."

"Just about everyone does," Jewel told him.

"It was very nice to have traditional American Thanksgiving meal," Alexei said on the way home. "I think that perhaps I ate too much, but still was nice."

Alison laughed. "That's an American tradition, to eat too much on Thanksgiving."

At last they reached Alexei's house.

"Thank you for lovely time," Alexei said. "Won't you come in and visit for awhile?"

"If I do that, you know I'll probably end up spending the night." Alison laughed.

"That is what I hope will happen." Alexei laughed too.

After they entered the house, Alexei's jovial mood turned to dismay when he saw the cat lying motionless on the floor.


	25. Carol And Donna

"Sasha?" Alexei walked over to the cat and picked it up. Its body was completely limp. "Oh, Sasha!" Tenderly Alexei sat the tiny body back down and began to sob. Alison held him and stroked his hair. "I'm so sorry," she murmured.

After a few minutes Alexei's sobs subsided, and he silently walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Alison.

"To get shovel. I must bury her."

"It's almost dark, Alexei," Alison said gently. "Why don't you just wait until tomorrow?"

"You are right." Alexei sighed deeply. He wrapped the cat's body in a pillowcase and left it beside the door.

"Please stay, Alison," he said. "I do not want to be alone tonight."

"Of course I'll stay," said Alison.

Alexei held Alison closely all night, as if he never wanted to let her go. Later in the night she awoke and heard him sobbing again.

The next morning he took the cat's body into the back yard and buried it. Alison went with him and helped him to arrange stones in a design to serve as a grave marker. Then they went back inside and ate breakfast.

* * *

The bustle of Christmas shopping soon helped assuage Alexei's grief over the loss of the cat. Having never celebrated Christmas before, he was awed by the music and decorations.

"My grandmother tell me about Christmas," he told Alison. "She remember back in the days of the Tsar, before it was outlawed. She tell me the story of baby Jesus in the manger, the angels and the shepherds who follow the star."

"You were very close to your grandmother, weren't you?" asked Alison.

"She live with us, take care of us every day while our parents work in factory," Alexei explained. "My grandfather, he die in gulag a long time before I was born. Someone betray him, accuse him of speaking against Stalin."

"Was that your grandfather who was a Bolshevik?"

"Yes."

_Serves him right, _Alison thought, remembering her dream. Then she thought of Alexei's grandmother and felt guilty.

"I think that's really sad, to grow up without Christmas," she said.

"We get presents on New Year's Eve instead," said Alexei. "Ded Moroz bring them, put them under tree."

"Oh, I get it." Alison laughed. "So, how old were you when you found out Ded Moroz wasn't real?"

"Ded Moroz _is _real." They both laughed heartily.

One day at the mall, Alison met up with a couple of her friends from high school, Carol and Donna.

"This is Alexei," she told them. "He just immigrated from Russia about six months ago."

"I finally get exit visa, after twenty-five years," Alexei said with a grin.

"Donna and I finally came out of the closet after about the same length of time," said Carol.

"What?" Alison was shocked. She remembered that while Donna had been into sports in high school, Carol had always been very feminine.

"Carol and I have been in love for a long time, but we always had to keep it a secret," added Donna. "Our parents would have killed us, and we would have had a hard time finding jobs."

"I can imagine," said Alison. "So how are things going for you now?"

"Much better," said Carol. "Our church has been very supportive of us. We've met other gay and lesbian couples there, and there are all kinds of different groups to join and other things to get involved in."

"What church is that?" asked Alison.

"The Unitarian Universalist church," Donna told her.

"I've heard of them, but I don't know very much about them," said Alison.

"They're very accepting of all different kinds of people," Carol said.

"So they do not stand on street corner and hand out pamphlets?" asked Alexei.

Carol and Donna looked confused. Alison told them about Alexei's experience with the street corner preacher, and they both burst out laughing.

"Oh, no. They're not into that at all," said Donna. "You should come sometime. You'd probably enjoy it."

"What you think, Alison? Should we go?" Alexei asked Alison after the women had left.

"Sure, if you want. We could try it," said Alison.

"I think I tell you my grandmother go to Russian Orthodox church before Revolution," Alexei said. "I wonder if it is like that."

Alison laughed. "I doubt it."

"Why so many different churches?" asked Alexei.

"I don't know. I never really thought about it," Alison said. "Growing up with freedom of religion, I guess you just take it for granted."

Suddenly there was a lump in her throat. She turned to Alexei and embraced him tightly.

"You feel sorry for me." Alison nodded.

"No reason to," said Alexei. "I have good life now. New home, good job, and best of all, my Alisonka." He kissed her, and she felt better.


	26. Malinka

Alison was tired when she returned home several hours later laden with packages. She put the packages down in the middle of the living room floor, plopped down on the recliner, put the foot rest up, and closed her eyes.

Alexei laughed. "Shopping wear you out, yes?"

Alison nodded.

"Would you like foot massage?"

"Oh, Alexei, I'd appreciate that so much!"

He sat on the floor, took her shoes off her feet, and began to rub her feet.

"Oh, that feels so good!" Alison moaned. "You're an angel, Alexei."

"I used to give Nadya foot rubs a lot," Alexei told her. "She work hard all day, come home tired, I give her foot rub."

Alison swallowed a lump in her throat.

"It make you sad when I talk about Nadya, yes?"

"Oh, no, not at all!" Alison said quickly, feeling instantly guilty. The last thing in the world she wanted was to come across as a jealous, insecure control freak.

Alexei chuckled indulgently. "It is all right. I understand."

"Does it make you feel sad when I talk about Dennis?"

Alexei frowned. "You never tell me much about him. What was he like?"

"He was...very different from you. Dennis was very patriotic, proud to be an American. A lot of guys who went to Vietnam got drafted. Not Dennis. He volunteered. He couldn't wait to...defend freedom and democracy."

"Denny is very much like him, yes?"

"Actually Denny _is _a lot like his father. It's funny, because of course he never knew him. I never thought those kinds of things could be inherited, but maybe I was wrong."

"Or maybe he pick it up from school, friends, other relatives."

"Perhaps you're right." Alison was thoughtful. "My parents have always been that way as well."

Alexei laughed. "What they think when you fall in love with Russian sailor?"

"They thought I was crazy. They were really happy when I met Dennis."

"Yet they are always so nice to me and Dasha when we visit."

"I think it made a real difference that you told my dad about your father being at Stalingrad."

Alison didn't even realize that she'd fallen asleep in the recliner until the sound of laughter awakened her. She opened her eyes to see that Denny and Darya had arrived and that Alexei had covered her with a quilt.

"Oh my God, I need to hide the presents!" she exclaimed.

"I put them in closet already," Alexei told her.

"What would I ever do without you?" asked Alison.

Alexei laughed.

Later, Denny and Darya went into Denny's bedroom, and Alison and Alexei went to Alexei's house, as was their usual arrangement.

* * *

The weekend before Christmas, Alison stopped at the supermarket to pick up a few things, and on the way out, she saw a mother with two children standing beside a big box with the words 'free kittens' written on the side. Curious, she walked over and looked into the box. There were three kittens left, a black one, a white one, and an orange one.

"Why, this one looks just like Sasha!" she exclaimed, picking up the orange one.

"So you already have a cat?" the woman asked her.

"No. Sasha was a friend's cat, but it died."

"I'm so sorry," the woman said.

"My friend was devastated," Alison told her. She petted the orange kitten, and it purred and leaned into her hand.

"You _are _adorable," she told it. "I'll take this one," she told the woman, who smiled.

Alison quickly took the groceries home, then took the kitten to Alexei's house. "Alisonka!" he exclaimed happily. "Come on in. Lovely to see you, as always. I made borscht, and you are just in time to help me eat it."

"Borscht?"

"Beetroot soup. Is very nice on a cold day."

"I've never had that before."

"Well, today you shall have it." Alexei noticed the kitten for the first time. "Ah! You have new friend, yes?"

"Someone was giving them away outside the supermarket. This one was so adorable I just couldn't pass it up." She handed the kitten to Alexei, who held it carefully in both hands.

"You are tiny one," he said to it. "Hardly big enough to leave your mother."

"I know how lonely you've been since...well, since..."

Alexei grinned. "Have to call you Malinka," he told the kitten.

"Does that mean tiny?"

_"Malenkaya _mean 'little one.'"

"But what if it grows up to be a big, fat cat?"

"Have to change name, then." Alexei laughed, and Alison joined in.


	27. Christmas Surprise

Alexei, Alison, Denny, and Darya, their car laden with presents. went to the Palmers to spend Christmas Day. Alexei refused to give Alison a hint about what he'd gotten her, only telling her that he very much hoped she'd like it. Remembering what had happened on Thanksgiving, he was a bit nervous about leaving Malinka behind for the day, but Alison assured him that the kitten would be fine.

"You look like your mind's a thousand miles away," she said to him as he drove to her parents' home. Since acquiring a state of Massachusetts driver's license and a car, Alexei was eager to drive whenever possible, and Alison didn't mind that at all. She hated driving and only did it when absolutely necessary.

"I was just thinking," Alexei replied. "My very first Christmas, and I get to spend it with the woman I love. Wonder what it will be like?"

"I'm sure you'll enjoy it," said Alison. The radio played Christmas carols as they traveled on. Alison and Denny sang along, and Alexei and Darya attempted to.

They arrived to find that Jewel had put up her usual lawn ornaments, Santa with the reindeer pulling the sleigh.

"Why does reindeer in front have big red nose?" asked Darya.

Denny laughed. "That's Rudolph. His big red nose is for guiding the sleigh."

Darya frowned. "I do not understand."

"There's a song about it. We sang it on the way here. Remember?"

"Merry Christmas, everybody!" Jewel sang cheerfully, swinging the front door open. "Come on in and get warm!"

The blast of warm air from the central heat hitting them in the face as they stepped inside _did _feel nice. On the CD player, Bing Crosby was singing 'White Christmas'. Alexei and Darya gasped in awe at the Christmas tree laden with decorations. Darya, fascinated, went to the nativity scene and picked up the tiny ceramic manger with baby Jesus lying in it.

"Why is baby in feed trough with animals all around?" she asked.

"That's baby Jesus. He was born in a stable because there was no room for his family at the inn," Denny explained.

Darya looked shocked.

"It's a Bible story," said Denny. "We hear it in church every year."

Alexei was astonished at the amount of food on the table. "I thought Thanksgiving was national 'eat too much' day."

Jewel laughed. "Christmas is the other national 'eat too much' day."

After dinner, it was time to open presents. As Alison had hoped, Alexei loved the watch she'd given him. When it was time for Alexei to give her his present, he surprised her by dropping to one knee in front of her.

"Close your eyes," he said. She did, and felt him slide something onto her ring finger.

"Now open them." She did so, and gasped with delight when she saw the diamond ring he'd placed on her finger.

"I love you, Alison. Will you marry me?"

"Alexei!" Alison gasped. "I thought you'd never ask!"

"Had to wait until time was right." Alexei giggled nervously. "First have to get green card, then job, then house. Then wife, hopefully."

Alison giggled. "Well, I certainly wouldn't want to ruin your perfect record. Of course I'll marry you, Alexei."

"Oh, thank you, Alison! You make me very happy man." Alexei stood and embraced Alison. Everyone cheered.

"I can't believe you asked me in front of the whole family," said Alison. "What if I'd turned you down?"

"Then I would have kept asking you until you said yes."

Everyone laughed. "That's determination," said Alan.

"Alison wait many years for me to come back to her. She never give up on me, so least I can do is to never give up on her."

"Oh, Alexei, I'm going to cry." Alison gave Alexei a big hug.

"Don't cry. Be happy," said Alexei, planting a big kiss on Alison's lips.

"I think we should do something special to celebrate," said Jewel.

"Let's sing my favorite Christmas song, 'O Holy Night'," said Alison. So they did.

"Song is about baby in stable with animals, yes?" Darya asked when the song was over.

"That's right!" said Denny.

"Tell me story about him."

Darya listened with rapt attention as Denny explained the story as well as he could.

"Did you ever hear that story before, Papa?" Darya asked her father.

"My grandmother, your great grandmother, she tell me story when I was little boy," Alexei told her. "Then I get older, they say don't talk about it, so I never do. But I never forget it."

"You may not remember, Dasha, but when you were little girl, maybe five years old or so, we go to hear a group called Boney M. They sing a song called 'Mary's Boy Child.' It is about same story."

Darya frowned. "I think I _do _remember that. Mama was with us, yes? Did she know story too then?"

"I do not know," said Alexei. "We never really talk about it."

"That must have been a real case of culture shock for you," Jewel chuckled.

"Perhaps, but we all like song." Alexei grinned.

"I probably have it on a CD somewhere," said Alan, riffling through his CD collection. "Ah, here we go. Harry Belafonte."

"That version's good, too," said Alison.

Alan put the Harry Belafonte CD in the CD player and found the song.

Alexei grinned. "This is it! Same song. I remember it. Just different guy singing it."

"I remember it, too," said Darya.

"So you will not mind for your daughter to marry Russian man?" Alexei asked Alan.

"I want my daughter to marry whoever makes her happy," said Alan. "You're a good man, Alexei, and I can tell that Alison really loves you. I know you'll take good care of her."

"I will guard her with my life," Alexei vowed, wrapping a protective arm around Alison.

"Both of you sound so old-fashioned," giggled Alison, blushing furiously.


	28. Mrs Kolchina

"I am so happy your parents like me and approve of us getting married," Alexei said to Alison on the way home.

"Of course they do," Alison replied. "Why wouldn't they?"

"Does this mean we're gonna be brother and sister?" asked Denny from the back seat.

"No, of course not," Darya told him.

"Whew!" Denny exclaimed. The others all burst out laughing.

"So when do you want it to happen?" asked Darya.

"Well, Christmas is already past," said Alison. "And New Year's Day would be a little bit too soon. How about Valentine's Day? That would be really romantic. Do you have Valentine's Day in Russia, Alexei?"

"No. What is it?"

"It's on February fourteenth. It's for celebrating romantic love."

"We do not have that one. We have International Women's Day on March eighth, where men show their appreciation for women."

"I like that!" Alison exclaimed.

"I always like it too," said Darya. "On Woman Day I always give my mother a red rose. My father always take her out to dinner and give her jewelry."

Alison twisted her new engagement ring around and around on her finger and thought of all the past Valentine's Days she'd spent alone, thinking of Alexei and wondering what he was doing. She felt his hand quickly squeeze her knee reassuringly and then felt much better.

"Malinka?" Alexei called as soon as they were inside the house. Right away the kitten appeared. "Ah, there you are, little one!" Alexei laughed with relief.

"Oh, you're such a softie," said Alison, giving him a quick hug and kiss.

Alexei headed for the telephone. "I will call my mother," he told Alison. "I cannot wait to tell her the good news."

"So you don't think she'll mind having an American daughter-in-law?"

"Oh, no. She is nice lady. You will like her."

"Does she speak English?"

"Not one word."

With some difficulty, Alexei dialed the regional and country codes and at last got through to his mother. He spoke to her in Russian for a few minutes, then asked Alison if she wanted to say hello.

"How do you say hello in Russian?"

_"Privyet."_

Alison took the receiver from him. _"Privyet, _Mrs. Kolchin."

_"Privyet, dorogaya," _said Alexei's mother.

Suddenly feeling very shy, Alison handed the receiver back to Alexei, who talked to his mother for a few more minutes and then said good-bye.

"What does _dorogaya _mean?" Alison asked him.

"It mean 'dear' or 'darling'. I told you she was nice lady. Also, her name is Kolchina, not Kolchin. For females there is always letter 'a' at end of name."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Alison exclaimed. "My first time speaking to her and I already messed up."

"Oh, no, Alison!" Alexei laughed. "It is all right. You did not know."

"So Darya's last name is Kolchina instead of Kolchin, and when we get married, I'll be Mrs. Kolchina instead of Mrs. Kolchin."

"Yes, that is right." Alexei grinned. "Come with me, future Mrs. Kolchina." He took her hand and led her into the bedroom. Quickly all their clothing was shed, and Alison knelt before Alexei, using her mouth and hands to bring him pleasure.

"Oh, Alisonka, you are so good to me," Alexei moaned. After awhile, she lay back on the bed and he returned the favor. She was over the edge much more quickly than usual.

"You are very passionate today," Alexei said as he climbed into bed beside her.

"I guess being engaged to you turns me on," Alison giggled.

He entered her, and they had an earth-shattering mutual climax seconds later. Afterwards, they lay in one another's arms and talked.

"Would it be all right with you to get married in my church?" asked Alison.

"Church wedding would be very nice," said Alexei.

"I'll talk to the minister about it as soon as I can," Alison said with a yawn.

"We will go together," said Alexei.

"Of course! He'll want to meet you first," Alison replied.

Alison's minister, Reverend Wright, was pleased to meet Alexei and said that he'd be happy to perform the ceremony on Valentine's Day.

"I married Alison and her first husband as well, and also performed her first husband's funeral," Reverend Wright told Alexei. "I'm so happy to see that she's found love again. She's a wonderful woman, Alexei. I know she'll make you very happy."

"I know. I am very lucky man," said Alexei.

"I think I'm pretty lucky as well," added Alison.


	29. Meeting Alexei's Mother And Sister

A couple of weeks later, Alexei stopped by Alison's house carrying a package. "My mother send this for you," he told her.

Alison unwrapped the package to find a beautiful red shawl with an intricate pattern of pink and yellow flowers.

"Why, it's beautiful!" Alison exclaimed. "I'll have to send her a thank you card right away. Do you know of any store that sells thank you cards in Russian?"

Alexei laughed. "It is all right. Just get regular card. I will translate."

"Do you think you could teach me Russian, Alexei? I'd like to learn so that I can talk to your family members when they call."

"Of course! I would be happy to." Alexei smiled.

Alison put the shawl on and wore it for the rest of that day.

'You look like a Polish peasant, Mom," Denny told her when he saw her.

"Alexei's mother sent this to me," Alison said.

"All the way from Russia? Wow!" Denny sounded impressed.

True to his word, Alexei began tutoring Alison in Russian on the weekends. She found that it was easier to learn than she'd expected it to be, and, as it turned out, she'd need it sooner than she expected.

"My mother and my sister Katya are coming for the wedding," he told Alison one day.

"Oh, wow! I'd love to meet them," said Alison. "What's Katya like?"

"She is just about same age as you. Work as pharmacist, married, have two daughters. They are both in college. She have son, too. He is in...what you call it here?...high school."

"Does she speak any English at all?"

"Only little bit. About like Dasha."

Mrs. Kolchina and Katya arrived the weekend before the wedding, and Alison, Alexei, Denny, and Darya all went to the airport to meet them.

_"Babushka!" _Darya cried, running to hug Alexei's mother, who embraced her joyfully, then went to meet the rest of the family. She was about as tall as Alison, with white hair and bright blue eyes. Katya was tall and slender, like Alexei, and had dark blonde hair and blue eyes like Alexei as well.

Alison said hello to both of them in Russian, and they seemed pleased to be greeted in their native tongue. Mrs. Kolchina embraced Alison warmly and talked excitedly in Russian. Alison didn't understand all of what she said but picked up an occasional word here and there. In her halting Russian she attempted to respond in kind, and Mrs. Kolchina laughed indulgently and patted her cheek. Alison felt all the apprehension she'd experienced over meeting Alexei's mother vanish as she realized that she and the older woman were going to get along just fine.

Katya also seemed pleasant enough. On the ride back to Alexei's house, she told Alison about her husband, Evgeny, her daughters, Alla and Anastasia, and her son, Pavel. Alison told Katya about Dennis and Denny.

"That must have been very hard, to raise son alone," Katya told her. "I admire you. I do not think I could have done that."

"You could have if you'd had to," Alison told her.

"You should have seen Alyosha after his first wife die," said Katya. "He fall completely apart. We worry about him very much. It was Dasha brought him out of it. There was a show on TV she always watch with her mother before her mother get sick. One night she ask Alyosha to watch it with her. Something funny happen on show and Alyosha laugh. Dasha say, Papa, that is first time I hear you laugh since Mama die. Alyosha tell me it was then he realize that he still have something to live for, that Dasha still need him very much. From that moment on, he is devoted father. Then Dasha grow up and he come to United States, write and tell us he has found love again. We are so happy for him."

"Did Alexei ever tell you how he and I first met?"

"He tell me about submarine accident, about meeting you and little girl, then he have to go back. We thought it was very sweet story. Very romantic. Sound like something from American movie."

"Aren't there romantic Russian movies as well?"

"Of course there are. Not nearly as many as there are American ones, but we do have some nice ones."

Alison and Denny both went back to Alison's house to spend the night. As she cuddled her pillow, wishing that she were cuddling Alexei instead, Alison comforted herself by reminding herself that in less than a week, she'd be able to cuddle with him every night.


	30. Alexei And Alison's Wedding

On the morning of her second wedding, Alison awoke with butterflies in her stomach. She'd known, of course, that this day was coming, but this morning it just seemed so much more real to her than ever before. The previous day had been her last full day of being a widow. Before the sun set today, she'd be a wife for the first time in over eighteen years, and not just anyone's wife. _Alexei's _wife. The very thought of that sent a delicious shiver through her body that went all the day to her toes.

In keeping with tradition, Alison, her parents, and Denny went to the church separately from Alexei, his mother, Katya, and Darya. As she didn't want her wedding to be excessively formal, Alison wore a white lacy semi formal gown with white heels, and Alexei wore a suit and tie. All the guests were dressed similarly.

Seeing her beloved standing at the front of the church waiting for her, Alison felt her breath catch in her throat. Never before had he looked so breathtakingly handsome to her. As the music played and she walked down the aisle on her father's arm, Alison almost felt as if she were floating. When she finally reached his side, he smiled nervously at her, and she beamed back.

Alexei and Alison had chosen to write their own vows. "Alison, the first time I came to you, it was as an unwelcome stranger from an enemy country. Yet you showed me kindness and compassion, bandaged my wound, gave me food to eat, and showed me your beautiful beach." Alison saw that there were tears in Alexei's eyes and felt her own throat tighten. "I had to leave soon after that, but I promised you on my word that I would see you again. It took many years, but I was finally able to keep that promise. I said to myself, Alison is probably married by now. I will stay just long enough to say hello and wish her well, and then go back home. But then a miracle happened. I saw you again, and old feelings came back, not only for me but for you as well. At last, after all this time, we can take the time to be with each other that we didn't have so long ago. Now, dearest Alison, I am so happy to say to you that this time, I don't have to say good-bye. This time I can stay and we can spend our whole lives together. I will love, honor, and cherish you for as long as I live, dearest Alisonka." He hadn't meant to use the nickname; it had just slipped out, but Alison didn't mind at all. Her main worry was that she wouldn't be able to get through her own vows without breaking down.

"The first time I ever saw you, Alexei, I knew that there was something special about you. You stood on the Whittaker's front porch dressed in the uniform of an enemy country and holding a gun, but I wasn't afraid. I knew that you weren't going to hurt me or Annie. During the brief few hours I spent with you, I realized that you were the sweetest guy I'd ever met. It may have seemed brash to kiss you like I did, but to me it was the most natural and right thing to do. I tried to put on a brave face when you had to say good-bye, but it broke my heart. Over the years I never forgot you, never stopped hoping that I really would see you again some day. When I finally saw you on the beach again one day many years later, for me it was like a dream come true. My dearest wish had been granted. Alexei, I promise to love, honor, and cherish you for the rest of my life."

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," said the minister, who was even dabbing at his own eyes with a handkerchief. Alexei lifted Alison's veil and kissed her, a soft, chaste kiss. Alison thought fondly of the way she wanted him to kiss her when they were alone later.

A lavish reception followed. Mrs. Kolchina had brought red and black caviar, and there was also crab salad, salami in pepper and wine sauce, stuffed peppers, fish in aspic, pickled beets and cucumbers, and various breads and fruits. To top it all off was the four-tiered wedding cake that Jewel had ordered from the bakery. It was white and decorated with red hearts, and on the top was written 'Congratulations Alexei And Alison' in red icing.

"You're supposed to slice the cake, and then we give each other a slice," Alison whispered to Alexei. "It's the custom here." Alexei looked bewildered but did as she told him. Everyone cheered.

Alison had never tasted caviar before. Alexei grinned, put some on a bit of toast, and fed it to her. All the guests laughed at the expression on her face.

"Not too bad," she commented. Everyone laughed and began to eat.

After awhile, Katya, Mrs. Kolchina, and Darya began chanting _"Gorko, gorko." _The Palmers and Alison and Denny stared, bewildered.

"That mean that they want us to kiss," Alexei laughed. So they did. The next time Alexei's family began to chant _"Gorko", _Alison's family joined in. Each time Alexei and Alison had to kiss until the chanting stopped.

Later there was dancing, and Alexei sang a song to Alison in Russian. Later he shared the lyrics with her.

_Where can I find the sweet words?_  
_How can I say that I love you?  
You have brought me so much happiness in life  
I sing to you and share with you my life_

Alison felt as if she and Alexei had come full circle at last, as if their souls were truly joined, and neither of them would ever be alone again.


	31. Gone With The Wind

Since Mrs. Kolchina and Katya were staying in the United States for a couple of weeks, Alexei and Alison had agreed to delay their honeymoon until they left. After the reception they returned to Alexei's house. To give them more privacy, Alexei's mother and sister rented a motel room for the remainder of their visit.

"I can't believe that last night was really the last night I'll ever spend in the house where I lived for twenty years," Alison said to her new husband as they drove home. They'd decided to let Denny and Darya live together in Alison's old home rather than selling it. It would be much less expensive than renting an apartment, and they both worked part time to meet their expenses while they were in college.

"Do you feel sad about that?" asked Alexei.

"A little," Alison admitted. "That house just holds so many memories for me...all Denny's growing up years..."

"I know just how you feel." Alexei squeezed her knee affectionately. "I feel same way about apartment I share with Nadya where Dasha grow up."

He parked the car and gave her a quick hug and kiss. "Now time to start making new memories, you and me together."

Alison could hardly wait until they were inside the house.

"You look so sexy in that suit," she told Alexei. "But you'd look even sexier with it off."

Alexei laughed. "Anything for you, my dear wife."

Their clothing was quickly shed, and they made love as husband and wife for the first time. Afterwards, Alexei held Alison and rubbed her back.

"It was always her dream to join the Bolshoi Ballet, ever since she was little girl," he said. "When she was a teenager she have accident on trampoline, suffer very serious back injury. Doctors say she will be lucky to ever walk again. A few years later, she can not only walk but can even teach ballet as well." His eyes had the faraway look which she'd come to recognize and which usually made her feel sad, but today she didn't feel sad at all.

"You must have been so proud of her," she said.

"I was," he agreed.

"He was a football player all through high school," she told him. "He always said that when the war was over and he came back to the United States, he wanted to go to college and become a football coach."

"But he never come back," Alexei said softly.

"He came back, all right, but in a casket." Her eyes met his, and in them she saw shared joy, shared sorrow.

"You and I, we have much in common," said Alexei. "You would never guess."

"Not in a million years," Alison agreed.

* * *

Early the following morning, Alison heard her doorbell ring and, to her surprise, saw Mrs. Kolchina and Katya standing there. Mrs. Kolchina was holding a plate, which she hurled to the floor. Alison gasped in astonishment.

"It is for good luck." Alison turned to see Alexei grinning at her. "We are supposed to pick up the pieces together." Alison was startled for a moment, then shrugged, laughed, and picked up the pieces of broken plate with Alexei.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to your strange customs," she teased him.

"I could say same for yours," he teased back.

Later the phone rang. It was Katya.

"I wonder if you have American movie I really want to see," she said. "It is called 'Gone With The Wind.' I have read book, and I like it very much. Now I want to see movie about it."

"As a matter of fact, I _do _have that movie," Alison said. "Would you and your mom like to come over and watch it tonight?"

"Oh, yes!" Katya exclaimed.

Alison popped popcorn and Alexei poured vodka and made white Russians for Alison. Katya teased Alison about not drinking vodka straight and it hurt Alison's feelings a little bit, but she smiled and didn't say anything. Alexei and Alison cuddled together on the sofa.

"Easy to tell you are newlyweds,"Katya giggled.

"How'd you know about 'Gone With The Wind'?" Alison asked her. "I know that a lot of American movies were banned in Russia."

"It used to be that way, but not so much anymore," Katya told her. "Our Prime Minister, Mikhail Gorbachev, he give us much more freedom now."

"He's been in the news a lot over here for the past few years," Alison commented.

"He has brought many changes to our country," said Katya. "Not all of them are good. There is bad economy, much unemployment and inflation. But we are happy to have freedom now."

"That was very sad movie," Alexei said when the movie had ended. "It has a lot of interesting information about American Civil War. Now I want to learn more about it."

"Even though my mother know no English, she say that she enjoy movie anyway. Actor who play Rhett is very good looking, she say," said Katya.

Alison laughed. "His name's Clark Gable. He's been in a lot of movies."

"Well, thank you for lovely time, Alison and Alyosha. Have to do it again soon," said Katya.

"Next time, we'll watch 'Dr. Zhivago.' I have that movie as well," Alison replied. Alexei and Katya both laughed heartily.


	32. Denny's Half Sister

For their honeymoon, Alexei and Alison went on a cruise to Alaska. Alison found that the shawl Mrs. Kolchina had sent her really came in handy. She wore it almost the entire time, and was surprised to see Alexei wearing short sleeved shirts for most of the trip.

"You do not know cold weather," he laughed when she mentioned the fact to him.

Upon her return home she found that married life with Alexei was every bit as wonderful as she'd imagined it would be. When she awakened in the morning snuggled deep within the warmth of his embrace, she could scarcely believe that only a year earlier, she'd been all alone with no prospects for love in sight.

She should have known that the euphoria was too good to last.

That particular Saturday in April began pleasantly enough. The weather was finally warm enough that Alexei could start building the greenhouse he wanted in the backyard, and he'd gone to buy supplies while Alison began spring cleaning. She was making a pitcher of lemonade when she heard her doorbell ring and found that her visitor was a young Asian woman of about eighteen.

"Hello," said the young woman. "My name is Phuong Nguyen, and I am looking for my father. His name is Dennis Phillips."

Alison gasped in shock and began to shake her head slowly. "You must be mistaken. Dennis Phillips was my first husband, and he died in Vietnam nineteen years ago. He didn't have any daughters. We just have a son, Denny."

"Oh, I am so sorry!" Phuong exclaimed. "I did not know that he was married. So you say that he die?"

"Yes. He stepped on a land mine." Alison's eyes narrowed. "What makes you think he's your father?"

"My mother told me that he was, and she would not lie. She was waitress in tavern where American soldiers went when they were off duty. She met my father and he gave her his picture. I have it right here." Phuong took a photograph from her wallet and showed it to Alison. Alison's heart nearly stopped. It was Dennis' senior picture from high school. She had one herself just like it.

Looking closely again at Phuong, she realized that the young woman wasn't full-blooded Asian after all, that in fact she saw a subtle but definite resemblance to Dennis in her facial features. To Alison it felt like a knife through her heart.

"I am very sad that he die. I wanted very much to meet him," Phuong continued. "You say he also have son?"

"Yes. His name's Denny and he's nineteen. He's in college."

"I would like to meet him if that is all right."

"Well...of course. I suppose so. He lives with his girlfriend. Her name's Darya." Alison gave Phuong Denny's address and phone number and then went to call Denny herself but got no answer. Shaking all over by now, Alison sat down on the sofa and tried to collect herself. Her head reeled from the shock of learning that Dennis had fathered a child in Vietnam, that he'd been unfaithful to her.

"How _could _he?" she asked herself over and over, receiving only silence in return. She was still sitting on the sofa with a look of utter devastation on her face when Alexei returned a couple of hours later.

"Alison, I am back!" he called cheerfully. "Ready to set up greenhouse now!" He saw her expression and the smile on his face instantly vanished.

"Alisonka?" he asked softly, lightly touching her chin. "What happen?"

"I just met Dennis' daughter," she said flatly.

"Dennis has daughter?" He looked baffled.

Alison nodded miserably. "He fathered a child with a Vietnamese waitress."

"Oh, Alisonka!" Alexei sat on the sofa beside her and reached for her, and she went into his arms. "I am so sorry!"

Within the comfort of her husband's arms, Alison was finally able to let the tears flow. Alexei held her and rocked her as if she were a small child.

At last she'd cried all the tears she could, and Alexei still held her, stroking her hair.

"It's just so s-strange," she stammered. "I feel like I didn't really know him, after all."

"How did she find you?" asked Alexei.

"Her m-mother...told her about Dennis and gave her his picture."

"Where is she now?"

"I gave her Denny's address and phone number and she went to find him."

Alexei chuckled softly. "So Denny has half sister he did not even know about. He is in for one big surprise."

"That's for sure." Alison sighed and looked up at Alexei, who looked back at her tenderly, sorrowfully.

"Well, I guess I do not know what to say," he said finally. "Except that I am very sorry this happen and I wish I knew how to make you feel better."

A very uncomfortable thought occurred to Alison, one which she tried desperately to push from her mind but in the end knew that she simply had to have the answer to.

"Alexei, did you ever...I mean...in all the time you were married before..."

"Was I ever unfaithful to Nadya? No, not even once. Not even when she was sick and in hospital."

"You're such a good man, Alexei." Alison sniffled just a little. _If only he could have stayed the first time he came..._

"You are good woman too, Alisonka. Do not deserve to have to go through this." He held her and caressed her some more. "If I play balalaika and sing for you, would it make you feel better? I sing very pretty song for you. It is called 'Moscow Nights.'"

Alison nodded. Alexei fetched his balalaika and began to play and sing for her.

He was still playing and singing when Denny and Darya entered the house later, reeking of fish and carrying a large cooler.

"We caught enough to share with you guys!" Denny announced.

"Sit down, Denny," said Alison. "There's something very important that I have to tell you."


	33. Devastation

Alison relayed the entire conversation she'd had with Phuong to her son. When she was finished, Denny and Darya both sat gaping in shock.

"So I'm not really an only child, after all," Denny finally said. "I guess I'd better hurry home, then. She may be there waiting for me."

"Don't forget fish," said Darya.

"Oh, yeah," said Denny, grabbing the cooler's handle.

"We were going to share with Papa and Alison, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. That's right." Denny hurriedly took a few fish out of the cooler and placed them on the counter, then left, his mind obviously no longer on visiting with his mother and stepfather.

"Well, at least the problem of what to do about dinner tonight is solved." Alexei chuckled as he transferred the fish to a bucket. "I will clean them before I get started on the greenhouse." He came to Alison and gently touched her cheek. "You will be all right, yes?"

"Sure." She forced a smile. "I'll do baked potatoes and coleslaw."

When Alexei came back inside several hours later, he noticed that Alison was sitting on the sofa poring over old photograph albums. She looked up and jumped, startled. "Oh! I need to get the potatoes started..."

"It is all right. I am not that hungry." Alexei sat beside her. "Reliving old memories, yes?"

"The only Christmas we spent together." Alison pointed to a photo. "He kissed me under the mistletoe." She pointed to another photo. "The last picture of us together before he left for Vietnam. He told me he loved me and that he'd sleep with my picture under his pillow every night. I just can't _believe _he could have done it."

"I know that you hurt very much, but perhaps you should not judge him too...how you say?...harsh," Alexei said gently. "He was all alone in strange place, in war time, did not know if he would live another day. Only normal that he would seek comfort wherever he could find it."

"I was lonely too, but I waited for him!"

"Yes, I know. But perhaps it is harder for man than for woman. I remember there was one time I was in Minsk, I have too much vodka to drink, woman of the night come to me, I could not refuse."

"You told me you never cheated on Nadya!"

"I never did. It was before I met Nadya."

"Must not have been too long after we met, then."

"Maybe six months after or so."

_"Men." _Alison spat the word out. "You just can't keep your pants zipped, can you?"

"Dearest Alisonka." Alexei laughed. "You know I will never unzip mine for anyone but you from now on."

Alison sighed. "Well, I suppose I'd better get dinner started."

Images of Dennis with a Vietnamese waitress combined with those of Alexei with a Belorussian prostitute tormented her for the rest of the evening. No matter how hard he tried, Alexei couldn't get a smile from her. He wanted to make love that night, but she refused his advances. After tossing and turning for several hours, she finally fell into a fitful sleep at about three or four o'clock.

She awoke at about mid morning to find herself in bed alone. A moment later, Alexei appeared in the doorway with a cup of coffee and a plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast and jelly.

"Oh, Alexei!"

"You have hard day yesterday, so I make you breakfast this morning." He smiled and took the food to her.

"You're such a sweetheart!" She threw her arms around his neck and held him close, inhaling his fresh, musky scent. "I'm sorry I was so nasty to you yesterday. I was very upset, and I took it all out on you."

"It make you feel bad when I tell you about woman in Minsk, yes?"

"Yeah, but I overreacted big time. I shouldn't have said what I did."

"That is all right. It is normal that you would be very much hurt, but your Dennis, he love you. I know he did."

"Well, he sure had a funny way of showing it!"

"Listen, Alison, I think that maybe there _is _difference between man and woman. I hope that you are not angry that I say that, but it is true. Like woman in Minsk, for example. I never see her again after that one time, do not even know her name."

"But you never forgot _me, _and we never even came close to making love!"

"Of _course _I did not! How could I ever forget my Alisonka?"

She kissed him, long and deep and hard. Breakfast instantly forgotten, he joined her in bed, and this time she welcomed his advances wholeheartedly.


	34. An Unexpected Longing

Alison and Alexei cuddled in bed for a long time after making love. His kisses and caresses seemed to soothe away all the pain she'd felt since learning of Dennis' betrayal.

"I am going to work in greenhouse some more." Alexei kissed Alison's nose. "You will come and get me if you need me, yes?"

"Can I have one more quick hug before you go?"

He chuckled. "Of course you can!"

Alison couldn't wait to talk to Denny and find out how things had gone with Phuong. She called him at the first opportunity. Darya answered the telephone.

"May I please speak to Denny?" Alison asked.

"Sure," said Darya. A few minutes later Alison heard her son's voice. "Hi, Mom! What's up?"

"I wanted to know how things went with Phuong."

"Oh, Mom, she's great! She cooked us an authentic Vietnamese dinner last night and it was delicious! She's going to be staying here with me and Dasha for awhile, and she might even decide to stay in the United States for good."

So she'd see Phuong every time she went to visit Denny and Darya from now on. A constant tangible reminder of Dennis' adulterous affair. Alison swallowed a lump in her throat.

"What's wrong, Mom?" asked Denny.

"Oh...nothing. I'm fine. That's great that you and Phuong are getting along so well."

After awhile Alison decided to go out in the backyard and see how the greenhouse was coming along. She found Alexei busy at work, the skeleton of the greenhouse already well developed.

"Wow, looks like you've made some real progress," she commented.

Alexei looked up and grinned. "Will be finished very soon. Then I plant seeds, grow delicious food. Peppers, onions, many things."

"You're growing vegetables? I thought you were going to grow flowers."

"Flowers too, Alisonka. Anything you like. What flowers you like?"

"It doesn't matter, Alexei. Anything's fine." He walked over to where she stood and propped his hand up on the side of the partially completed structure. "I just talked to Denny. He and Dasha had a wonderful time with Phuong yesterday. She's going to be staying with them for awhile and might even stay in the United States permanently."

"Well, it is good for him, I suppose, that he find his sister. Yet awkward for you, I know."

"It just really bothers me that Dennis' love child is going to be staying in my house."

"But it was Dennis' house too when he was alive, no?"

"I guess you could say that. He made the first few payments on it, and after he died, I continued to make payments with my widow's pension."

"So Dennis pay for house too, and Phuong is his daughter. She cannot help how she get here, and she need place to stay. Make sense for her to stay with her brother, no?"

"I know she can't help how she got here." Alison sighed. "I guess I'm being selfish, aren't I?"

"You are angry and hurt. That is understandable." Alexei took both his wife's hands and looked earnestly into her eyes. "But you must not stay that way, or you will become sad, bitter person. I could not bear for that to happen to my sweet Alisonka."

He took her into his arms, and she rested her head on his shoulder, basking in the comfort of his embrace.

* * *

The greenhouse was soon finished, and Alexei bought seeds and planted a wide variety of vegetables and flowers. Alison found that she greatly enjoyed working in the greenhouse alongside her husband. As they spent hours together grooming and caring for the new plants, all her troubles seemed far away.

"It's just so special to see the tiny little green shoots poking up through the soil after you've planted and watered and cared for them," she said to Alexei one day.

"It is wonderful feeling," Alexei agreed with a grin.

"It makes me think of when Denny was a baby," said Alison. "I remember the very first time I held him. It just amazed me that this tiny, red, wrinkled, perfect little human being was totally dependent on me. I just felt this overwhelming love for him, love like I'd never felt for anyone or anything before. Those first few months were so crazy! It seemed like he was hungry all the time, and I couldn't believe the number of diapers he went through! I felt so overwhelmed sometimes, but it felt so nice to hold his warm, soft little body when I would rock him to sleep at night, and one day, he smiled at me! That was just so precious!"

"It was same way for me when Dasha was baby," said Alexei. "When she was first born, I cannot believe how tiny she is. It was first time I ever see newborn baby. Nadya feed her, and she soon grow to be big baby. She was happy, smile and laugh a lot. Beautiful little girl. She make us very happy."

To her surprise, Alison suddenly felt a longing deep inside, one which she hadn't expected to ever feel again.


	35. Baby Hunger

In jeans and a t-shirt, with a smudge of dirt on his cheek, Alexei suddenly looked more irresistible than ever to Alison.

"What is it?" he laughed.

"Nothing, except that I'm suddenly overcome with this overwhelming desire to tear all your clothes off, throw you on the ground, and make passionate love to you," Alison told him.

"Need shower first," said Alexei. "No good if I am dirty and smelly."

"Oh, I don't care how dirty and smelly you are," Alison replied.

It was getting late, so they went inside and had dinner and took showers and cuddled on the sofa watching TV for a couple of hours before moving to the bedroom, where they began to make love. Alexei automatically reached for a condom, and Alison gently put her hand over his.

"Please, let's leave it off this time," she said.

Alexei just stared in surprise. "You mean you want baby?"

"I want very badly to have your baby."

"Well, this is surprise." Alexei didn't look very happy. "Why you no say something before?"

"Because I just now realized it," said Alison. "When we were in the greenhouse and I was telling you about when Denny was born and you were telling me about when Dasha was born. That's when it hit me."

"Ah." Alexei chuckled. "New baby is nice, but also big responsibility, no? And I am old man now. By time baby is grown, I would be...how you say?...one foot in grave."

"We're only in our forties, Alexei. Lots of people our age and even older are having babies."

"I do not think I still have enough energy to keep up with little one."

"You told me that you and Nadya wanted more children after Dasha but just couldn't have them. I would have wanted more children after Denny, too, if Dennis had lived."

"But I was much younger then. Had more energy, more time. It is much different now."

"It's not so very different."

"I have already raised Dasha to be young woman. I do not want to start over again with new baby." Alexei's voice was kind but firm. Alison realized that as far as he was concerned, the matter was settled.

* * *

Spring became summer. The plants in the greenhouse grew and blossomed. Alison watched fondly as Alexei gently cared for them, speaking to them in Russian the entire time.

"You really do have magic fingers," she told him.

"Plants are just like people," he told her. "They respond to loving touches, loving words. Just like you, when I hold you and touch you and say loving things to you, you respond right away, no? Same thing with plants. I show them love and they reward me by giving me beautiful flowers and delicious vegetables."

"I never thought of it that way before," Alison admitted.

"Close your eyes and open your mouth," Alexei said to Alison one day. She did so, and he put something squishy in her mouth. She bit down on it and tasted its delicious juices.

"Strawberries!" she exclaimed.

"Kashubian strawberry," Alexei said proudly. "Grow in Poland."

"It's the most delicious strawberry I've ever tasted! So what other agricultural secrets have you Eastern Europeans been keeping from us?"

Alexei just laughed.

* * *

As Alison could have predicted, Phuong became a permanent fixture at Denny and Darya's. She applied for permanent residence and changed her first name to Fawn so that it would be easier for Americans to pronounce and her last name to the hyphenated Nguyen-Phillips. Denny was overjoyed that she'd decided to add 'Phillips' to her last name. Alison was just the opposite.

Her relationship with her son became markedly more distant. She called him only rarely, as she always feared that Fawn might be the one to answer the telephone. Whenever Denny and Darya came by to visit accompanied by Fawn, as was usually the case, Alison could always find a quick excuse to go out. Alexei mentioned it to her once.

"I just can't stand to look at her," Alison explained. "I feel like a terrible person because I know it's not her fault at all, but every time I look at her, I see Dennis."

"Is it because you love him and miss him after he die, or because you are hurt that he make baby with other woman?"

"Well...a little bit of both, I guess." Alison sighed.

"She is real reason why you want another baby, yes?"

"No! I want to have your baby because I love you, and having a baby together would be a beautiful way to express that love. Just imagine, Alexei. A baby that's part me and part you, that we created together...wouldn't that be special?"

"But what we have together is very special already, Alisonka. Baby would not make it any more or less so."

"You don't think so?"

"Of course not! Why should it? Alisonka, I do not mean to...how you say?...lecture you, but I think perhaps would be better to work on relationship with son you already have."

"Things were fine between Denny and me until _she _had to come along."

"Dearest little Alisonka." He cupped her chin in his hand and looked tenderly into her eyes. "How about I take you out to dinner this weekend? Would make you feel better, yes?"

Alison smiled and hugged him, and he embraced her back.


	36. Dinner Date

Alison looked forward to dinner out with Alexei all week. They hadn't gone out to dinner together in a long time, and she was thrilled that Alexei had suggested it. However, when they got to the restaurant, she was puzzled when Alexei requested a table for five.

"Another couple and their guest are joining us," he explained when he saw the puzzled expression on his wife's face.

They'd been seated less than five minutes when, to Alison's consternation, Denny, Darya, and Fawn entered the restaurant and approached their table. She did her best to swallow her feelings as she pasted on a smile and greeted them.

"This was a great idea, Mom," said Denny. "We see so little of each other these days."

"I agree," said Fawn. "I am here for all this time and see hardly anything at all of your lovely mother, Denny. A bit more of Dasha's father but still not very much."

"I think it is wonderful all five of us have dinner together like loving family we are," Darya added.

"And like I tell you before, Fawn, I am more than happy to help you with immigration process, green card, finding job, anything at all. I just go through it myself so know all about it," Alexei told Fawn.

"Thank you very much! I am so happy I know you, Mr. Kolchin," Fawn replied.

Denny and Darya chattered throughout the meal about their classes, their jobs, and their friends. Fawn talked about her family and friends in Vietnam and her life there. Alexei interjected a few words when appropriate. Alison was silent for practically the entire time, an occasional tear dropping to her plate. Alexei tried to draw her into the conversation several times but finally gave up.

As they were leaving the restaurant, a young couple walked in. The woman carried a beautiful baby girl who looked to be several months old. She wore a pink dress with ruffles and a matching hat and socks with tiny patent leather shoes.

"Oh, she's adorable!" Alison exclaimed. "Can I hold her?"

The woman smiled and handed the baby to Alison. The infant opened her blue eyes to see who was holding her but didn't cry.

"How old is she?" asked Alison.

"Three months on Sunday," the baby's mother told her proudly.

"What's her name?"

"Caitlin Rose."

"Hi Caitlin!" Alison cooed. Caitlin opened her mouth in a toothless grin. "Oh, you are so precious!" Alison crowed. "Thank you so much," she added, handing Caitlin back to her smiling mother.

Alexei was silent for most of the journey home, so much so that Alison feared that he was angry at her, but when he finally spoke, he sounded not angry, but sad.

"She have very hard life in Vietnam, you know," he told his wife.

"How do you know?" asked Alison.

"She tell me before, when you were not there," Alexei replied. "Her family was very poor, often not enough to eat. Her mother have to sell her body sometimes just to have enough food. Other children make fun of Fawn for being half American. She is very lonely. Fawn want to become scientist, but her mother cannot afford to send her to school. She have to work as waitress like her mother."

_Then where did she get the money to come to America? _Alison wanted to ask but didn't. "You feel sorry for her."

"I know what it is like to be stranger in strange land," said Alexei. "That is why I want to help her as much as I can."

"That baby sure was cute, wasn't she?" asked Alison.

Alexei sighed. "That was only time you look happy tonight, when you hold baby."

* * *

The following afternoon, Alison drove to the cemetery where Dennis was buried and walked to his grave, where she stood staring at the American flag atop it and the carved inscription. 'Loving son and husband.' "Ha!" she said bitterly, scooping up a handful of dirt and tossing it at the headstone.

"Why'd you have to do it, Dennis? Why?" she asked. "Just look at how badly things are messed up now, and it's all _your _fault!"

She sat at the base of the grave and sobbed until she could cry no more. Then she drove back home.

She walked into an empty house to find a note on the table.

_Alison,_

_Gone to help Fawn with paperwork. Back by dinnertime._

_Love,_

_Alexei_


	37. Deadly Waves

At first relieved at avoiding a confrontation, Alison fetched a soft drink from the refrigerator, turned the television on, and sat on the sofa. Malinka climbed into her lap, and she held the cat and stroked it.

"Looks like it's just you and me today, Malinka," she said. She enjoyed the solitude for an hour or two, but as time passed, the house began to seem oppressively quiet. Alison realized that she was lonely, that she missed her husband, as she was unused to spending weekend afternoons without him. On impulse she grabbed her handbag and left the house.

As she walked up the driveway of her old house, she heard laughter coming from inside and instantly felt less lonely. Denny opened the door when she rang the doorbell.

"Oh, hi, Mom. Come on in," he said. Alison entered the house to see Alexei, Darya, and Fawn sitting on the floor around a Monopoly board.

"Hello, Alisonka," Alexei greeted her cheerfully. "We finished paperwork, now teach Fawn to play Monopoly. Care to join us?"

Alison suddenly wanted very badly to join in, and was soon just as absorbed as the others were in playing the game.

"I do not know about you, Alisonka, but I myself am pretty hungry," Alexei gently reminded her with a laugh after awhile.

"Oh my God, look at the time!" Alison gasped when she saw the clock.

"No go home. Stay and have dinner with us," Fawn insisted.

"Oh, no, we couldn't..." Alison began.

"You're welcome to stay. There's plenty," said Denny.

"It is very good. You can trust me." Alexei laughed.

So Alexei and Alison stayed and ate their fill of Vietnamese cuisine and stayed long afterwards, talking and laughing until quite late.

"I am very sorry, but Alisonka and I must leave. We both have to go to work tomorrow," Alexei finally said. To her surprise, Alison found herself reluctant to leave.

"You had better time today, yes?" Alexei asked on the way home.

"Why, yes, I did," Alison admitted. "I guess the pressure was off today."

"You feel pressured last night, yes?" Alexei asked thoughtfully.

"Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I did," Alison told him. "I was a bit upset at you for not telling me that they were meeting us for dinner."

"If I had told you, you would not have agreed to come," said Alexei.

"Probably not," Alison agreed.

"Perhaps it was wrong for me to trick you," Alexei reflected. "I thought what I did was good thing. But perhaps it was wrong."

Alison sighed. "You meant well, Alexei. I know that."

They reached their house and went inside.

"You know where I was earlier today, Alexei?" asked Alison.

"Where?"

"I went to Dennis' grave and chewed him out good for having made this mess."

"Perhaps that was good thing." Alexei laughed. "Get it out of your system."

"Yeah. You know what, though? Dennis will someday have grandchildren that won't be mine."

"They will never know him."

"They'll be his grandchildren, all the same. His and that Vietnamese woman's together."

"So you wish for Fawn to remain childless so that will not happen?" Alexei's voice had a slight edge.

Alison sighed. "I want to have your baby, Alexei. Then someday you and I would have grandchildren together."

Alexei didn't say anything. Alison felt that she'd ruined what had up until then been a very pleasant afternoon and evening. A moment later, she felt Alexei's arms around her.

"I love you, Alisonka," he murmured into her hair.

"I love you too," she told him.

"I know that," he said. She clung to him, enjoying the softness and warmth and comfort of his arms around her.

* * *

"Well, aren't you just gorgeous?" Alison asked nine-month-old Tara Price. The baby grinned in response. Tara was the daughter of Annie Whittaker Price. Alexei and Alison were meeting up with Annie, Tara, and Annie's four-year-old son, Tyson, for a day on the beach.

"Do you remember me?" Alexei asked Tyson.

"Uh huh," the little boy replied. "You're the spy that talks funny."

All the adults burst out laughing. "He remembers you all right, Alexei," said Annie.

At the beach they unpacked the chairs, quilts, umbrellas, and cooler and got everything organized. Alexei helped Tyson build a sand castle while Alison and Annie held Tara's hands and walked with her along the shore.

"She's been taking steps holding onto furniture for a long time now," Annie said to Alison. "I just know she's gonna let go and take a step by herself any time now!"

"I remember Tyson was an early walker, too," Alison remarked.

Soon tiring of the sand castle, Tyson wanted to play in the water on his raft, then collect seashells along the shore.

"Here's a real pretty one!" he chortled with glee as he proudly held a seashell up for the others to see. Just then a giant wave swept the seashell out of his hand.

"My seashell!" he cried, running after it.

"No, Tyson, no!" shouted Alexei, rushing after him.

Another giant wave crashed to shore, drenching them all. When it subsided, Tyson was nowhere to be seen.


	38. Hero Once Again

Alexei dove below the waves and swam underwater for what seemed like forever to Alison. When he finally emerged, he held Tyson's limp body around the waist.

Right away he lay the little boy on the quilt and began to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. After a few minutes, Tyson gasped, then began breathing normally and opened his eyes.

"Oh, my baby!" Annie fell to her knees and gathered her son into her arms.

"Alexei, you did it! You saved him!" Alison exclaimed, enthusiastically hugging and kissing her husband.

"I am just so very glad I find him before it was too late," said Alexei.

"I don't know how to thank you," Annie told Alexei.

"There is no need to thank me." Alexei grinned and blushed modestly. "I only did what anyone would have done."

"What happened?" asked Tyson. "I was looking for my seashell, and then all of a sudden I was lying on the quilt and Alexei was there."

"It's all right, sweetheart," Annie told him. "You just got tossed around a bit by the waves. That's all."

"Come on, Tyson." Alexei held his hand out to the little boy. "I will buy you prettier seashell."

"Hurray!" Tyson took Alexei's hand, and Alexei walked with him to the row of souvenir shops on the boardwalk while Alison and Annie looked after Tara and cleaned up.

Alexei and Tyson returned in about a half an hour, and Alexei took everyone for ice cream and then they all went home.

* * *

"So today you were a hero once again," Alison remarked to Alexei when they were home alone. "The first time you came, you saved the little boy who was stuck on the roof of the church, and today you saved Tyson."

"What would you Americans ever do without me?" Alexei laughed.

After dinner Alexei's mother called, and he spoke to her in Russian for a long time. When he finally hung the telephone up, he was grinning.

"My mother have very happy news!" he told Alison. "I am going to be great uncle. My nephew Stepan and his wife Lia are going to have baby. If baby is boy, he will be Pyotr in honor of my nephew who die in Afghanistan."

"It seems like everyone's having a baby," Alison sighed.

"They are young, Alisonka. It will be their first. I am happy for them."

"I am too, but..."

Suddenly Alexei's lips were upon hers, kissing her passionately.

"Seeing you in swimsuit make me feel...how you say?...turned on," he murmured.

"Watching you save Tyson's life really turned me on too," Alison said with a grin.

"In that case, I will become lifeguard." Alexei lifted her and carried her to the bed, where he gently laid her down and climbed on top of her. His tongue darted between her lips as his hands gently tugged her shirt over her head. Her bra was next, followed by her shorts and panties, then all Alexei's clothes. Alexei's fingers were between her legs, getting her ready, while her hands were all over him as well. Not that he needed that much stimulation.

She saw him reach for a condom and didn't say anything as she didn't want to spoil the mood. Quickly and expertly he slipped it on and slid inside her. She moaned appreciatively and arched upwards to meet him. They moved together smoothly, and within moments she was crying out in ecstasy. He followed seconds later.

Afterwards they lay together, breathing hard. Tenderly he placed dozens of kisses all over her face and along her hairline.

"Dearest Alisonka," he whispered. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," she whispered back.

"Oh, I almost forgot." His voice returned to normal. "When I was in shop with Tyson today, I bought something for you too. I was waiting for right time to give it to you."

He arose from the bed and swiftly returned holding a beautiful snow globe. It's bottom was filled with sand, and on top of the sand lay a tiny starfish surrounded by seashells of various sizes and colors.

"It's lovely!" Alison exclaimed.

"Look at words on bottom," said Alexei.

Alison read the inscription printed on the snow globe's base. 'Greater than the sands in all the oceans is the love I have for you.'

"Oh, Alexei!" Near tears, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.


	39. Fireworks

On the night of July fourth, Alison and Alexei met Denny, Darya, and Fawn on the beach to watch the fireworks. As they sat on the quilt waiting for the ceremony to begin, Fawn told them about the celebration of the Vietnamese New Year.

"We always visit my grandparents' graves and clean them," she said. "Then we clean family altar and offer sacrifice to Kitchen God. Next we go to Buddhist temple to watch Lion Dancing. Everyone hold lantern with candle, and there are fireworks there just like here. It is very beautiful."

"In my country, there are always fireworks on May ninth to celebrate end of Great Patriotic War," said Alexei.

"The Great Patriotic War?" Alison frowned. "I don't think I've ever heard of it."

"It was war my father fight in."

"Oh, so that's what you guys call World War II." Just then she caught sight of a familiar face. "Marty! How are you?"

"Alison! Good to see you again. I'm doing fine, thanks." Marty had two artificial legs and was on crutches. He was neatly dressed in clean jean shorts and a t-shirt, and his hair was well-groomed.

"You look great!" Alison told him. "Better than I've seen you looking in a long time."

"I'm in counseling now, and I'm taking my meds again. That really helps," Marty said. "But the main thing is that now I've found Jesus. He's gotten me off the booze and drugs, and I'm living a Godly life, one that's pleasing to Him." His eyes fell on Alexei, and instantly his expression changed. "What the hell is _he _doing here?"

"Alexei and I are married now," said Alison.

"Huh? You gotta be kiddin' me!" Marty spluttered. "Has he brainwashed you yet, turned you into one of _them?" _He noticed Fawn sitting with Denny and Darya. "Who's she? Someone's Chinese mail order bride?"

"This is Fawn," Alison told him. "She's...Dennis' daughter." She still had a difficult time getting her mouth to form the words.

"Dennis' daughter?" Marty gazed at Fawn in amazement.

The young woman smiled at him. "My name is Fawn Nguyen-Phillips. Is nice to meet you."

"I knew your father very well," Marty told her. "He was my best friend. Served in 'Nam with me. That's where I lost my legs. Stepped on a land mine."

"Really? What was he like?" Fawn's eyes lit up with interest, and she, Marty, and Denny were soon engaged in an animated discussion about Dennis. Alison looked on gloomily.

Alexei touched her chin. "Smile," he said.

She tried but wasn't very successful.

"I tickle you." His eyes twinkled mischievously. Alison had to chuckle.

"That is better," he said.

"Hey, there's Carol and Donna!" Alison exclaimed, waving to her friends. They saw her and waved back.

"Alison! It's been awhile, hasn't it?" said Carol.

"Since before Christmas," Alison replied. "Remember Alexei? We're married now."

"Wow! Congratulations!" Donna exclaimed. "When did you get married?"

"Valentine's Day," Alison told her.

"Gosh, how romantic! said Carol. "Donna and I have some big news ourselves. We're going to have a baby!"

Alison was so surprised that she didn't say a word.

"That is lovely news. Congratulations to you," Alexei said with a smile.

"So which one of you is pregnant?" asked Alison.

"I'm the one who's carrying the baby," said Carol. "We asked Donna's brother to be the sperm donor so that the baby would be biologically related to Donna as well."

"So when are you due?" asked Alison.

"Around Christmas," Carol told her. "I've got a ways to go."

The fireworks began. Alexei and Alison watched in silence for awhile.

"Is really beautiful," Alexei murmured, hugging Alison close. "Is nice and romantic to watch fireworks together at night, yes?"

"I wonder how long it took her," Alison mused.

"What do you mean?" Alexei was puzzled.

"Carol. I wonder how long it took her to get pregnant. She's my age, you know."

"Oh." Alexei burst out laughing. "You are still thinking about _that."_


End file.
